


Camp Coldwood

by dimetrium



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/F, campcounselor!christen, lifeguard!tobin, strangers to enemies to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 89,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21807898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimetrium/pseuds/dimetrium
Summary: Tobin is the waterfront director at Camp Coldwood. She has been for a few years now, and she's really good at it. She would do anything for the camp, and is skeptical that the new person Kelley hired has what it takes to be the super counselor Coldwood needs.Christen hasn't been to her childhood summer camp since she was a kid. At the insistence of her best friend from Stanford, she is returning for the summer, this time as staff. She has a lot to learn about the job, and must earn the respect of her peers, especially that of the seemingly perfect waterfront director.
Relationships: Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 149
Kudos: 735





	1. Chapter 1

The plane raced down the runway. Flaps on the wings pointed skyward to slow the momentum of the aircraft. Christen heard the wheels hit the pavement. To her, it sounded like hot wheels racing down a set of tracks, but much louder. After a few seconds, the aircraft came to an acceptable speed, and the racing noises subsided. As the plane was ferried towards the gate, one of the flight attendants announced passengers could use their electronic devices.

Christen pulled out her phone and turned it off airplane mode. There was a text from a number she didn’t have saved. Christen swept it to the side, and instead focused on the two missed calls from Kelley. She didn’t want to be THAT person who immediately starts talking on the phone as soon as they land, so she shot her a text instead.

_Kelley_

_Hey. I just landed and saw you tried to call._

The plane docked at the gate and the passengers at the front of the plane started to gather their items. Christen looked out the window and noticed it wasn’t really a gate, but rather a big set of stairs that had been rolled up to the side of the plane and attached at the door. This really wasn’t San Francisco. This was rural upstate New York.

Before the plane emptied out to her section in the middle, a text came in.

_Kelley_

_Yay! You made it!_

_Almost. Still have to get_

_to camp! :)_

_Yeah so I tried calling because I won’t_

_be able to pick you up. One of the ropes  
_

_course obstacles broke and I have to_

_meet the repair guy._

_Haha, am I stranded here then?_

_Lol. Don’t worry. I’m sending the_

_Waterfront Director in my place. I_

_think she might have texted you_

_already._

_She’s cool._

Christen noticed the person in front of her was getting their bag down from the overhead storage. She sent a quick message back to Kelley thanking her for not totally abandoning her. She grabbed her carry-on bag and made her way down the walkway in the middle of the plane. As soon as she stepped on to the airport stairs, she knew she had made the right decision. In the distance, she could see the sun hovering over some luscious green hills. It had been so long since she was last in this part of the country. It brought back so many good memories. Admittedly, Christen was nervous too though. She was just a kid the last time she was here. What if it had changed? What if SHE had changed, and it all wouldn’t have that same magical feeling anymore?

Christen didn’t dwell on these thoughts for too long, as she made her way across the short walk on pavement towards the open door that was the 'gate’. Her mind was quickly preoccupied to be on the lookout for any signs that indicated the direction of the baggage claim.

One benefit of small airports is that everything is super easy to find. Christen didn’t have to go far to locate where here luggage would be. At this tiny little airport, they didn’t even have the carousel that goes around with everyone’s bags on it. A vehicle with two large carts behind it pulled up outside and the workers just manually carried the bags into the building and piled it up next to where “Chicago” was displayed. The windy city was where Christen’s connecting flights met. The California native did not have to wait very long for her checked bags, and soon the only thing Christen was in need of was her ride.

Christen pulled her phone back out of her pocket. She assumed the unknown number she had dismissed earlier was the Waterfront Director being sent to pick her up. She was a bit sad she wouldn’t be seeing Kelley right away, but after a traveling across the entire country, what was another hour and half? Plus, they would get to reunite at the place they first met and became friends. 

Christen pulled up the text on her phone.

_Unknown_

_Hi I’m Tobin from Camp Coldwood._

_Kelley sent me to give you a ride_

_from the airport. Let me know when_

_you’re here._

_Hi Tobin! Thanks for coming_

_to get me. I just got my baggage._

_I’ll meet you out front?_

_Sounds good. Look for the orange truck._

Tobin was standing outside of her pickup, leaning against the back corner of the cab. She had been there for a while, and had stopped scanning the departing people a while ago. She was just glad this Christen girl finally texted her back. She had been beginning to wonder if the whole thing was just some prank by Kelley to get her into town. She was half expecting Kels to ring and be like “Actually, I just wanted someone to pick me up some Chipotle.”

Christen had no trouble finding the woman bringing her to Camp Coldwood. The airport, being so small, only had one drop off/pick up area. Plus, orange wasn’t a super common color for vehicles, making locating the specific car even easier.

As Christen approached the orange truck, she sized up the woman standing beside it. Tobin was about the same height as her. Standing there, her feet were a little further apart than most people would have them, and she let herself be half supported by the truck behind her. The whole stance radiated confidence. Tobin had on hiking boots, which made sense considering they would be spending most their time in the woods. The faded jeans she wore were worn almost through at the knees.

Tobin’s arms were crossed across a plain white T-shirt. Christen admired the woman’s biceps for a moment, before noticing the T-shirt also had a giant old coffee stain running down the middle. Christen couldn’t help but judge for it. The woman had long brown hair that Christen would have best described as almost unkempt, but luckily it was kept contained under a trucker hat that donned Tobin’s head. Christen had never seen a woman (or anyone under the age of 40 for that matter) wear a trucker hat before.

From her truck, Tobin noticed a young woman approaching, and wondered if it might be Christen. The woman gave a quick wave and flashed a full smile, confirming Tobin’s guess. This had to be Kelley's roommate from college. The woman honestly wasn’t what Tobin expected. Her outfit didn’t exactly scream ‘camp’. Time and effort was clearly put into her hair that morning, making sure every curl folded the right way. She had a floral pattern top, and a jacket that seemed more appropriate for conversing around a conference table than a campfire. Then, Tobin noticed the skirt. It wasn’t that you couldn’t camp in a skirt, just Tobin considered it to be far more unpractical that it was worth. Who the hell had Kelley brought on? Some Californian valley girl? Tobin had a few brief, but serious thoughts worrying this was going to be another chump who couldn’t handle living in the woods and needed everything done for them.

At least she didn’t have heels though, Tobin thought. She would have straight up hopped in the truck and left this Christen at the airport if that was the case.

“Hi,” Christen said, “Tobin?”

“The one and only.”

Without saying anything else, Tobin grabbed one of Christen’s bags and threw it into the bed of her truck.

“Careful!” said Christen politely as she put her other bag in the back of the truck, much softer than Tobin had.

As Tobin turned towards the cab, she rolled her eyes when she knew Christen couldn’t see. “Let’s go,” she said.

Christen thought about how this woman was not much for greetings or words, but she didn’t mind all that much. She was here for herself, and for Kelley, not anyone else. Tobin took her time climbing back into the driver’s side of the truck as Christen walked around to the passenger side. Christen hopped up, her curls bouncing lightly as she did.

They took off towards the hills, chasing a sun that was rapidly approaching the horizon. They sat in silence for the first twenty or so minutes. Tobin was not much good for making small talk, and seemed intensely focused on driving, making sure she was going on the right route and what not. Christen didn’t want to interrupt her driver’s focus, and was a bit nervous to start a conversation. After a few miles on the highway though, Christen finally said something.

“So how long have been at Camp Coldwood?”

“Since late April, probably?” Tobin responded.

“Really? That long. Are you out of school then?”

“Yeah...” Tobin said with a shrug. After some hesitance she continued, “In the off season Coldwood has been doing a lot of group rentals. You know, like corporate retreats, weddings, stuff like that. I’ve been helping out in the fall and spring with those events. Lifeguarding, cooking, property maintenance, whatever needs to be done.”

“That’s great,” replied Christen genuinely, “It would be awesome to be able to spend that much time there.”

“Yeah the summer when the kids are here is the best though. Out of all my hats, Waterfront Director is my favorite.”

There was a slight pause before Tobin asked, “So what about you? I know Kelley brought you on, but what makes a California girl like you come all the way to upstate New York to go live in the woods for a couple months?”

Christen laughed. “I actually came here once when I was a kid. That’s how I met Kelley.”

“That I believe. Kel is always bragging to anyone and everyone how she has been here every year since she was 6 years old. Did the whole CIT thing and everything.”

“Yeah, we met one summer and became best friends. We exchanged addresses at the end and wrote each other letters in the winter. We just stayed in touch as we grew up. Now I think I talk to Kelley on the phone sometimes more than my family!”

“Huh,” Tobin said. “Kelley said something about her college roommate coming out here and working. I kind of assumed it was you.”

Christen laughed again. “Yup, that’s me too. When we were both looking at colleges, we both applied to Stanford. And we got in too! We figured it would make sense, and be super cool for us to be roommates. Here we are two years later, and I’m not sick of her yet!”

“Wow. Stanford,” said Tobin, “You two are both so smart.”

Christen just shrugged. She then asked, “So did you ever go to Camp Coldwood as a kid?”

“Nah,” replied Tobin, “Found it when I was older. Better late than never, am I right?”

“Yup. You are. Thanks for giving me a ride by the way. I know it’s not super convenient.”

This time it was Tobin’s turn to shrug. “Kelley’s one of the bosses and she told me to do it. No big deal.”

They rode in silence most the rest of the way to the camp. As the hills got closer, they rose up and stared down, casting shadows onto the highway. As Tobin’s truck crested that first set of hills, the sun dipped behind even taller mountains beyond, ones in which they were headed for. Twilight left the sky illuminated at the western edge, but by the time they exited the highway and meandered along several mountain passes, it was completely dark, sans starlight.

“We’re almost there,” said Tobin as the road they were driving on turned to dirt.

“It’s really dark out,” said Christen, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, new moon tonight. Usually you can see a lot more.” Tobin flicked on the high beams of her truck. She didn’t want to risk not seeing a deer in the road too late.

Christen found herself feeling a bit on the fearful side. Here she was, driving down a dirt road in the middle of the woods with a complete stranger. If she was in a horror movie, all the people watching would be yelling at her for being such an idiot. For all she knew, she could be walking straight into a cult of axe murders. She pulled out her phone, but was instantly reminded that Kelley had told there wasn’t any cell service in the area around camp.

Her fear subsided though as the truck slowed, and its headlights shown on a sign that said ‘CAMP COLDWOOD’ with an arrow pointing to the right. Christen recognized the sign, and relief flooded through her. The sign looked old all those years ago, the last time she was here, and it still looked old now. It might have gotten a fresh coat of paint or too, but its rustic flavor was just the right way to tell people what Coldwood was about.

They turned and went down the dirt road for about a mile before arriving at the main part of camp. There was office where the camp director worked out of, an open dirt area for cars to be parked, and a grassy green field where games could be played. Just beyond that you could walk past the dining hall to the rest of Camp Coldwood.

Before Tobin had even shut off her truck, Kelley was bolting towards them from the office, arms open wide. Christen quickly jumped out of the truck and greeted her friend with a giant hug. Tobin shut the driver’s side door, and shook her head at how long the two embraced. She was smiling too though, happy for the other two women. Kelley and Christen rocked side to side in the hug for another moment before finally letting each other go.

“I can’t believe your actually here!” exclaimed Kelley.

“Neither can I. You convinced me though. Camp counselor, Christen, reporting for duty.”

“You’re gonna love it here. We’re gonna have so much fun this summer. We have such a good group of staff this year.”

“I hope so!”

“I mean, you already met Tobin. Thanks Tobes, by the way,” Kelley said, “She’s our camp superstar.”

Tobin just shrugged, “That’s all you Kelley. I just do what you ask me to.”

Kelley stuck out her tongue, “Whatever. Everyone here knows you do a ton for this place.”

Tobin flipped down the back on the bed of her truck. She climbed up and passed the bags down to Kelley and Christen.

“I’m gonna leave you two to catch up,” Tobin said, “See you guys at breakfast.”

With that, Tobin headed off down the dark path towards the units.

“Doesn’t she need a flashlight?” asked Christen, to Kelley.

“Tobin? No. She knows this camp so well, she could walk it blind. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to do that by the end of the summer too.”

Kelley and Christen went and sat in the office for a while. There was a little bit of employment paperwork Christen had to fill out, and they caught each other up on the last few weeks while she did. Christen talked mostly about how her parents and their dogs were doing, while Kelley told her all about the awesome parties she’d went to during her few weeks home.

“Hey, I better show you where we are all staying, before it gets too late,” said Kelley.

Christen nodded. “Which unit?”

“Rosebud. It’s the closest to main camp. Most of the staff is staying there for pre-camp, which is the entirety of next week. Helps everyone get ready for actual camp. Then, the first session of kids will arrive! It’s so exciting to think about!”

The two friends grabbed Christen’s bags and headed out down the same path Tobin had wandered down some 30 minutes before. Luckily for Christen’s sake, Kelley had her headlamp so Christen didn’t have to fish her own out of the bottom of her suitcase.

When they got to a fork in the path, Kelley purposely shined her light away from the signs. “Do you remember which way?” she questioned.

“I think it’s to the left?” Christen answered.

“Bingo!”

“I think I’ll still need a tour, come tomorrow when it’s light out.”

“No problem. We can figure something out.”

The unit consisted of several canvas tents set up on wooden platforms, arranged in a half circle. Rosebud was on a point that jutted out into the lake, so each of the tents had decent views of the water too. In the center of the half circle was a massive fire pit, with logs around it serving as benches. A little ways off from the point, in the woods a bit, was the unit house. This served as an indoor refuge in case of severe weather. The canvas tents were pretty durable through most rain storms, but a bad thunderstorm with high winds could leave people, especially young kids, in want of more stable shelter. The unit house also stored extra mattresses and cots, board games, and had a full kitchen too.

“Tents 5, 6, and 7 have the best views,” said Kelley, “So those are the ones most people are staying in.”

“Which one are you in?” asked Christen.

“Oh me? As program director, I get my own room up in the cabin at main camp,” she gave a devilish grin, clearly gloating in the perk of her position.

Christen laughed, “So who else is special enough to get their own room in the cabin?”

“Me, the program director, obviously, the camp director, and the nurse are in one cabin. The Head cook and kitchen staff have their own building with rooms too.”

“So no special room for the Waterfront Director then?”

“Nope. Not for them, or the Ropes Course Director, or the Arts and Crafts Director too. They slum it in the tents with the counselors.”

“Wow, so egalitarian of you guys,” Christen joked.

As they approached the first tent, Kelley lowered her voice to a whisper, as to not wake up anyone who may have went to bed already. One of the tent flaps was fastened up, and Kelley peaked inside tentatively.

“No one’s here,” she said, and Christen poked her head inside too.

Three of the four beds were occupied. Kelley explained that Christen was the last to arrive, so she might be limited in her choices.

As she pointed to the beds, Kelley quickly said who they belonged to. “This one is Emily’s, though we all call her by her last name, Sonnet. And that one is Sammy’s. They are both counselors like you, and this one is Tobin’s.”

Christen noticed Tobin’s stuff was haphazardly bunched up in her corner. It didn’t over spill into the other two tent resident’s areas, but clearly wasn’t any high level of neat or organized either.

Kelley moved on to the next tent. There was one sleeping resident in the tent, but Kelley didn’t seem to think their whispering would wake her. “That’s Lindsey, another counselor, ooh and this bed is Becky’s. She’s a Head Counselor, which means she’s also in charge of whatever unit she’s in. That bed is AD’s. She’s arts and crafts.

Christen examined the one unclaimed bed. “This will work,” she said.

“Sure you don’t want to see the other tents?” asked Kelley.

“Nah. It’s only for this week, right? Plus I’m super tired from traveling all day. Kind of just want to crash.”

“Makes sense,” said Kelley, “We’re doing lifeguard training tomorrow too. It can be physically intense, so better get some good rest anyhow.”

“Goodnight,” said Christen, “See you tomorrow.”

“Bright and early.” With that, Kelley made her way back to the main towards the main section of camp. Christen quietly unraveled her sleeping bag and laid it on the cot, careful not to wake Lindsey. She figured she could wait to unpack the rest of her stuff until tomorrow, when the morning sun would help her see what she was doing. Christen snuggled into the sleeping bag’s warmth, and quickly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen has her first full day at camp. Tobin trains the new lifeguards. Everyone gets ready to do overnight camping on the other side of the lake.

In the morning, Christen awoke to the alarm of one of her tent mates. She was glad, because she actually had no idea what time breakfast started. The alarm came from the corner of the tent Kelley said belonged to someone named Becky. This Becky sprang out of bed like she was just waiting for the day to begin. She hopped out of the platform tent and onto the damp grass where she stretched. She sang a camp song Christen vaguely remembered.

_Dewey was the grass at the break of day_

_Dewey was the admiral at Manilla bay_

_Dewey were her eyes as she bid her love adieu_

_Do we love each other?_

_I should say we do_

The song was directed to no one in particular, and purely for nothing more than Becky’s own enjoyment. Lindsey, one of Christen’s other tent mates, groaned. “You legally have too much energy for just waking up.”

AD was awake too, but she was still wrapped up in sleeping bag, enjoying its warmth for another few minutes. Christen sat up, still in her sleeping bag as well, and figured now was better than ever to introduce herself.

“Hi everyone, I’m Christen.”

Lindsey groaned, but it had a friendly intonation. Christen took it as a good sign.

“Good morning Christen,” said AD. “I’m Adrianna. You can call me AD though.”

“Nice to meet you AD.”

“And grumpy over there, that’s Lindsey.” Lindsey waved, as if this early in the morning, that’s all she could muster. She started to roll out of bed though.

“And miss energetic over there, that’s Becky.”

As if on cue, Becky turned back towards the tent and waved while saying, “Hi Christen!”

Breakfast was at 8am, so they all got ready pretty quickly and made their way down the dining hall. Christen was enamored with how beautiful camp was, now that she could actually see it under the light of day. Her memories of the place always painted a pretty picture, but being there and experiencing it was a whole different game. Mist rose off the water, and the sky’s light sparkled down on it. The maple and birch trees had green leaves almost neon in color when the sun shined on them just right. Looking into the woods, the downed old trees and young saplings collectively told the story of a hundred years in just a glance.

Breakfast was eggs, fruit, and toast. As Christen grabbed a cup of coffee in the kitchen she met the cook and assistant cooks. Vlatko, was the cook and in charge of the kitchen. He told her the other staff liked to call him coach. When she asked why, he just shrugged. The assistant cooks were Alyssa and Ashlyn. Christen also met the rest of the staff while at breakfast too. She couldn’t remember all their names right away, but she figured she would pick them up by the end of the week.

Just as they were finishing up, the camp director strolled in, and Kelley was with her. Kelley tip toed over to a table in attempt to sneak a bagel. Christen thought this was funny, as it was very obvious to everyone what she was doing.

“Ok,” said the Camp Director, “Today we are doing lifeguard training. Tobin, Casey, and Moe are obviously already certified, but it never hurts to have a few more trained people. I have Sonnet, Christen, Julie, Crystal, and Kelley signed up.”

“Ah, Foudy, it’s cold in the mornings. Can’t we do this in the afternoon?” complained Crystal.

Foudy just laughed, “The morning is the best time! Wakes you right up to take a dip in the lake!... Plus the training takes almost all day. So, yeah, we have to start soon. Anyone else want in?”

“Hey,” Sonnet said to Lindsey, “You told me you were gonna sign up?”

Lindsey just shrugged.

Foudy added, “Staff not being trained for lifeguarding will be on property maintenance duty this morning.”

This seemed to catch Lindsey’s attention, but her thoughts were interrupted by Jessica who shot to her feet and shouted, “I call the chainsaw!”

Sammy looked disappointed that she didn’t call dibs first.

Lindsey thought for a moment, before making a decision. “Ok, I’ll do the lifeguard training.”

“Yes!” Sonnet said as she pumped her fist.

Tobin strolled to the front, next to the Camp Director. “Ok lifeguard wannabes. Wash your dishes, grab you suits, bathing ones that is, and meet me at the beach in 20.”

Kelley and Christen cleaned up and promptly and headed to the waterfront. The swimming area had a large H shaped dock. The first two sections were bordered by the shore on one side and parts of the dock on the other three sides. A roped line of buoys separated the two sections in the middle. Kelley explained that the first section, which only went to about three feet deep was for kids who couldn’t really swim that good (or for those you just wanted to splash around in the shallows). The second was for kids who could swim, but weren’t great at treading water or needed to stand every once in a while. The third section was on the far side of the H dock, and extended out beyond the end of the dock, as defined by two more sets of roped buoys coming off the either side of the top of the H. They met at a smaller piece of isolated dock that swimmers could use to jump off from. This third section was well over most people’s height, and required strong swimming abilities.

Both Christen and Kelley sat on one of the sides of the H dock, their feet in the water waiting for everyone else to show up. Kelley started to explain how the Waterfront Director gave every kid a swim test when they first arrived, and what they looked for when evaluating the campers’ swimming abilities. Christen wasn’t really listening though. She was watching Tobin set up the stuff they would need for the day. From the beach shed, Tobin dragged out a couple backboards and lifeguard tubes, and brought them out on the dock.

Christen took note of how Tobin’s arms looked while carrying the bulky backboards. Her forearms were taught, veins visible, maintaining the iron grip her fingers had on the equipment. As she lifted the board to position it where she desired, her biceps flexed too. The woman was in shape, that much Christen could clearly tell. As Tobin maneuvered it some more, she clenched her jaw, in determination to wrangle the board into location. Christen admired the strong jawline, and thought to herself, that Tobin was a great fit for Waterfront Director. If you imagined yourself drowning, you could also imagine Tobin being strong enough to pull you back into safety.

“Right Christen?” Kelley said.

“Huh, what?”

“We should help out Tobin. Right?”

Christen nodded in agreement.

“What do else do you need Tobes?” asked Kelley.

“Whistles, fins, goggles, and um... probably some sunscreen. Ooh and grab the first aid bags too. It’s good for everyone to be familiar with what’s in them.”

Right after they finished getting the rest of the supplies out, the remainder of the lifeguard crew showed up. They didn’t get in the water right away, as Tobin first explained the general ideas behind lifeguarding and strategies you might use if someone is drowning. She also explained methods used to prevent drowning, like the buddy system, watching people’s exhaustion levels, and preventing roughhousing.

As midmorning approached, they did all get in the water finally. Tobin first demonstrated the aptly named “lifeguard jump.” She peeled off her T-shirt revealing a simple swim top that didn’t really look all that different from a sports bra. She left on her board shorts, because after all, they were meant to get wet and then dry off quickly. When Tobin performed the lifeguard jump, she kicked her legs in a scissor like motion as she hit the surface. The idea was that the kick would create enough upward force to prevent the head of the lifeguard from going under the surface of the water. This way, they would not lose visuals on the person they were going in to rescue. Christen had to try twice, as the first time she wasn’t holding her lifeguard tube high enough on her abdomen. 

After that, the new lifeguards had to swim some laps, just to demonstrate that they were all quality swimmers. They were in the water anyhow from their jumps, so it made sense to get it done and over with.

Tobin watched the other staff swim while sitting on the dock. She had to make sure they all had good form in the different strokes they were required to demonstrate. Sonnet, Kelley, Crystal, and Julie had all been certified last year, so she didn’t really have to watch them all that much. That left Lindsey and Christen for her to really pay attention too. It was quickly pretty obvious that both were strong swimmers. Still though, Tobin found herself watching Christen intently. The woman, thought Tobin, seemed very comfortable and at ease in the water. She had a sense of grace about her. She saw it also in the way she walked around camp, carried the fins and goggles down the beach, and even now as she swam. Her black one piece bathing suit was nothing special, but somehow on Christen it looked like it should be on a runway in Milan. Tobin had met her fair share of pretty girls, but Christen was downright beautiful.

It’s a shame thought Tobin, that she wasn’t sure about Christen as a person yet. She seemed a bit prissy, a little too refined for Tobin’s liking. She preferred people who were rough around the edges. They always just seemed a bit more human and down to earth.

After the laps, the camp nurse Carli arrived to teach CPR. Carli came off a bit more serious than some of the other staff, but Kelley informed Christen that Carli had been working here almost longer than anyone else. She was good at what she did, and Christen had to agree. She could tell instructing CPR was not new to Carli. She just went through the concept and demonstrated it as if she did so every day.

They had a rubber dummy of a person, and they all got to practice performing CPR on it. Carli told everyone that on a real person, you know you’re doing the chest compressions hard enough if you could hear the ribs cracking. Christen hoped she would never have to actually perform CPR for real.

Around noon, they had a quick break for lunch. Christen and Kelley grabbed some sandwiches and sat on the loading deck of the kitchen. They didn’t bother to change out of their bathing suits, and just had towels wrapped around themselves. Not wanting to drip all over the dining hall, the back deck seemed the next best place to enjoy their food. Coach just smiled and shook his head as walked past through the door into the kitchen.

“So what do you think?” asked Kelley.

“Seems pretty good so far. It’s so nice in the water. I feel so lucky to get to be here, so I can just jump in practically whenever. I would seriously kill to work at the beach all the summer as a lifeguard or something. Why didn’t you tell me about that position?” Christen joked.

“Be around Tobin too, right?” said Kelley slyly.

“What do you mean?” asked Christen a bit defensively.

“I saw the way you were looking at here when she was carrying all the crap out of the shed. And, I mean, I have eyes too, you know.”

“Kelley Maureen O'Hara,” said Christen, “You have a girlfriend back in California.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly my point. She’s all yours,” Kelley said with a devilish grin.

“Ugh,” replied Christen, “I’m not interested. Yeah, Tobin is...” Christen stopped to lower her voice to a whisper, not that anyone was around anyhow, “hot, but she’s not very friendly is she? We barely talked yesterday and we were in a car together for like an hour.”

“You’re judging too quickly,” said Kelley, “She’s not always a big talker, especially at first, but she is amazing when you get to know her. A person you can really rely on.”

Christen just rolled her eyes, “I came out here to work with kids, to be in nature, and to hang out with my best friend,” she said, “not to hook up with hot lifeguards. Ok Kelley?”

Kelley just laughed, “Ok Christen. This is your summer, you can do whatever you want with it. I respect that.”

Not long after they finished lunch, they went back to the beach where the training resumed. They practiced rescues on each other, including using the backboards. They also got a chance to practice T canoe rescues. This was a method used to de-capsize a canoe that had flipped over. From another canoe, a person could dump all the water out of the capsized canoe and help its paddlers back in. They also ran some drills, like that used when looking for a lost swimmer. At the very end of the training, they had to take a written test on all the stuff they had learned. Foudy wandered over to the beach and told them all that when they were complete with their tests, that they could be done for the day.

In the evening, a couple people decided to have a camp fire. Kelley had some office stuff she had to take care of, but Christen figured the camp fire would be a good way to meet some more of the people she’d be spending her summer with.

There was no light except for that of the orange glow from the fire on everyone’s faces. They were all circled up around, and Alex had brought marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers for s’mores.

“They’re vegan too,” Alex proclaimed, “I got them from Trader Joes!”

“Where the hell is the closest Trader Joes?” asked Allie.

“I have no idea,” said Alex, “I bought a bunch back home and brought a stockpile’s worth with me.”

Christen soon learned that Alex was in charge of the ropes course. Allie was another counselor, like herself. There was also another Ali at the fire too, but everyone seemed to call her by her last name, Krieger, to avoid confusion.

Christen spent the next day with the other counselors too. She learned all about the different activities she could take kids to do at camp, how to organize with the program specialists, and logistics like shower schedules and meal times. They even met up with AD for a while to learn some basic arts and crafts they could do with campers, like friendship bracelets and boondoggle.

Christen also got an amazing tour of the camp from the other counselors too. She remembered a lot of the camp from when she was a kid, but it was a fantastic refresher, and she got to see all the new changes too. An archery range was added on the east side of the lake, and a new unit was put out near there too.

“Hey, I think I have a kind of a stupid question,” Christen asked as they were walking around.

“Go for it,” said Pinoe, who was one of the head counselors.

“I know this place is called Camp Coldwood, and I’ve seen the lake, but I could have sworn there was an actual river around here somewhere. Am I just misremembering?”

“Ha!” said Pinoe, “Nah, it’s just not super obvious. There’s a little creek that runs from this lake down to the river. You might even get to go see it tomorrow!”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’re doing practice overnights tomorrow. You remember them?”

“Yup. They were when we packed up tents and food, and canoed out to a spot to do some primitive camping. Usually happened once a week?”

“Exactly. We do it during staff week too, as a sort of dry run.”

The following afternoon, Foudy explained exactly that. They were to split up into three groups, and each go to a different spot and camp overnight. It was a good bonding activity in addition to being a sort of practice for doing overnights with campers.

“I put up a list of which units you will all be staying in for the summer,” said Foudy. “Obviously you don’t have to move your stuff until Friday, but this is how I’m dividing you all up into the three groups for tonight too. I figure it would be nice for you all to have the opportunity to get to know your unit mates.”

Pretty much everyone was crowded around the list posted on the mantle of the fireplace in the dining hall. Christen managed to get a look at it, and see which unit she would be in.

MAIN CAMP 

CAMP DIRECTOR: FOUDY

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: KELLEY

NURSE: CARLI

HEAD COOK: VLADKO

ASSISTANT COOKS: ALYSSA AND ASHLYN

ROSEBUD UNIT

HEAD COUNSELOR: BECKY

COUNSELORS:

ABBY

CHRISTEN

LINDSEY

WATERFRONT DIRECTOR: TOBIN

GAIA UNIT

HEAD COUNSELOR: PINOE

COUNSELORS:

ALLIE

SONNET

SAMMY

ARTS AND CRAFTS DIRECTOR: AD

LIFEGUARD: MOE

TADPOLE UNIT

HEAD COUNSELOR: KRIEGER

COUNSELORS:

JESSICA

JULIE

CRYSTAL

ROPES COURSE DIRECTOR: ALEX

LIFEGUARD: CASEY

Christen wondered if Kelley, Carli, and the kitchen staff would get to go on the overnight too. As if on que, Foudy answered her question.

“Kelley, I have a few parents who still haven’t sent in their kids’ medical information. I’m going to need you to take care of that today and track it down from them.”

Kelley groaned, but just quiet enough that the Camp Director didn’t hear. It was clear she would rather prepare for, and then go on one of the overnights.

“Kitchen staff,” said Foudy,”You’re welcome to go on any of the excursions. They’ll be putting in their food requests for the trip, and after you’ve helped each group out, you’re free to do whatever today. If you do go on one of the trips, you aren’t allowed to do any cooking though.”

Alyssa and Ashlyn laughed at that. Foudy continued, “Set up tents, or build the fire, or anything else really. They have to learn how to make food over the fire or else their campers will starve on the actual overnights!” The Camp Director laughed at her own joke.

Vlatko tapped his foot, “No way in hell I’m going on any of these trips. I’m enjoying my night off!”

Becky, who would be Christen’s Head Counselor all summer now, called everyone assigned to Rosebud together. They gathered next to Tobin, who had dragged a chair out into an open spot some ten minutes before, having predicted the sequence of events that followed. She had grabbed a coffee, and sat legs splayed, determined to be unmoving until she was done with her hot beverage.

Alyssa let them know what the kitchen had on hand, and helped them plan their dinner and breakfast. She also said she would love to join them, if that was okay.

“Of course,” said Becky, “We’d love to have you!” Lindsey volunteered to pack up all their food and cooking gear with Alyssa. Tobin had to head to the waterfront to allocate the boats, and Becky went with her. As they left, Christen could hear them discussing what boats they thought Rosebud should take. Abby was going to check out tarps and tents, and was going to show Christen how that process worked. Per Abby’s instruction, her and Christen were going to a building they called the Garage.

“I never saw this as a camper,” Christen said.

“Yeah, lots of tools and stuff in here. It’s best practice to keep the kiddos away.”

Christen looked around the building. It indeed, did have a garage door on the front, which clearly gave the place its name. There was an ATV and a little trailer that went with it too.

“Usually we do the check in / check out stuff at the main office, and the program director brings it over there with that” Abby said while pointing to the vehicle. “Sounds like she’s busy today, so we can bring all the stuff just straight over to the boat launch.”

Christen also saw a golf cart, a camp van, a whole wall filled with extra canvas tents and rope, shelves and shelves of tools, giant spools of cable, rakes, shovels, blow torches, and a whole multitude of other items and supplies.

“It makes sense, but I guess I never really thought about how there is a need for all this stuff,” said Christen.

“Yup, when stuff breaks, it’s good to have everything you need to fix it right here on hand.”

The two wandered back to a shelf that had the light weight primitive camping gear on it. They grabbed a couple tents and tarps, and headed down to the boat launch. Abby also grabbed a roll of duct tape and a marker. By the water, they dropped the stuff in a pile. Abby slapped a piece of the tape onto the top item, and wrote ‘Rosebud’ on it.

“That way everyone else knows this is ours,” she said.

Christen and Abby went back to their tents at Rosebud to pack their personal stuff they would need overnight. Abby had the genius tip of just throwing whatever you would need inside your sleeping bag, that way you didn’t need an extra bag. Most the others were there too, also packing. Christen started to put pajamas and clothes for the morning in her sleeping bag, but Lindsey stopped her by lightly putting her hand on Christen’s.

“Christen, honey, this is camp. We just wear whatever we have on and change when we get back in the morning.”

AD laughed at Lindsey’s blunt honesty. She shrugged and added, “It’s true. We might all smell, but we all smell together.”

Sonnet must have heard the conversation, because she yelled from the next tent over. “And the campfire smoke covers it up, mostly. Nature’s greatest perfume!”

Christen didn’t know how she felt about her fellow staff’s habits for overnights, but it _was_ technically called primitive camping. She didn’t want to be the odd one out, so she put her extra clothes back into her suitcase.

At the boat dock, the Tadpole unit was just leaving the boat launch area when Rosebud was fully assembled.

“Dibs on Square Eddy point!” shouted Krieger back to Becky and the rest of Rosebud.

“Fudge,” said Becky, “That’s the best one. I’ll guess we’ll go to Evenfire Bay then.”

Christen thought that was a unique name. She didn’t recall the different overnight spots, so she didn’t really have an opinion as to which one they ventured off to for the night.

“Sounds good to me,” said Tobin, “That ones the closest, too.”

Tobin then directed the unit to take down some canoes from the boat rack, and have them placed in the water next to the dock. The team packed up all their stuff into the boats, and started getting in to leave. Kelley had stopped by to see the rest of the staff off.

“Have any of you guys seen Pinoe’s group here?” she asked.

“Nope,” said Lindsey. ”They started a pile, but its missing quite a bit of stuff. We did see Sonnet back at Rosebud though.”

“Typical,” Kelley mumbled, and then laughed. “Pinoe being late.”

Tobin was holding one of the canoes, waiting for someone to hop in. “Hey, Christen,” she said, “Get in.”

Christen grabbed her paddle, and rushed over to the dock. She was a little wobbly getting in, but adjusted quickly. Becky was already in the back of the canoe, so they were all set to go.

“Have fun kiddos,” Kelley said with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosebud unit goes primitive camping across the lake. It doesn't go as planned.

Lindsey and Abby were in the front canoe, and Christen and Becky were right behind them. With each stroke, the paddle ripped through the lake’s surface. The sound of it, along with the feeling of conquering the resisting water was deeply satisfying. Christen felt that with every paddle stroke, her spirit was more and more connected to the lake.

Tobin was right behind them. She shared a canoe with Alyssa, but Alyssa was sitting on the floor backwards, lounged against the front seat. Tobin practically had the canoe for herself, and was commanding it totally from the back seat. Her red lifeguard tube was right at her feet, the end sticking up just past the lip of the boat. Even though she was last out from the dock, and the only one paddling in her boat, she was soon passing Becky and Christen.

“Tobin!” yelled Becky, “You don’t need to be first!”

“Yeah, but I want too!” She paddled at nearly twice the pace as the others. She was clearly showing off. Becky mumbled something about how it was probably Tobin’s suggestion to not have Alyssa paddle. She probably convinced her by saying it was technically her night off, and she deserved to relax for all the hard work she put into the kitchen.

As Tobin and Alyssa passed them, Christen again, could not stop herself from admiring the Waterfront Director’s muscled arms as they worked to pull along the canoe. Tobin was laughing and smiling too. She did a quick drop of her sunglasses, sending a gloating look towards Becky. The woman clearly got a lot of enjoyment out of being the fastest canoe in the group.

As everyone expected, Tobin’s canoe ended up at the camp site first. Both Alyssa and Tobin hopped out, light on their feet, and tied the boat off to a tree out of the way so the other two canoes would have room to land ashore. Tobin caught Lindsey’s and Abby’s canoe, and held it steady as they got out. The four of them, all started to haul stuff up the bank to the open area where they could set up.

Becky skillfully navigated the canoe using wide horseshoe shaped strokes and back paddles to put the boat in the empty spot waiting for them. They too started to unload their boat, and Alyssa came down from the encampment area and helped them.

It wasn’t long before everyone was busy setting up the campsite for the evening.

“These things are so much fun,” said Lindsey, “The best memories are always made on overnights.”

“Hey anyone see the tent poles?” asked Tobin. She and Alyssa were setting up one of the tents.

“I think they were in our boat,” said Christen.

“Cool, we can go back down to water and get them. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Christen wandered back down the embankment to where the boats were tied up. She could see where the poles sat, under the back seat of the canoe she was in earlier. Tobin said she would be down in a minute to help, but how hard could it be to grab them?

Christen very carefully climbed into the front of the canoe, which was closest to shore. The boat drifted a bit in the water, and gently bumped into the canoe beside it. The wobbling steadied out though, and Christen, on her hands and knees, slowly made her way towards the back of the boat. She got close enough that she could reach out and her finger tips just barely brushed the poles. She maneuvered a bit and was slowly bringing them towards herself. A few more seconds and she would be able to get a firm grip.

“Christen?” said a voice from behind her.

Startled, Christen jerked up in surprise, looking back to see who had called out her name in a concerned voice. In doing so, her weight shifted from the center of the canoe and began to rock. Christen’s first instinct was to lean the other way, in order to send the canoe turning back to an equal and center position. Unfortunately, she way over compensated and dumped herself (and the tent poles) into the lake on the opposite side.

“Ahhg!” she yelled as she fell in. The water was only two feet deep there, but because she went in horizontal, she was totally soaked.

When Christen righted herself, she found herself sitting in the lake. Water ran out of ears and from her hair, and the first thing she saw was Tobin snickering on land.

“How is this funny?” she asked, clearly not in a good mood.

Still through stifled laughter, Tobin said, “You should see yourself.”

“Ugh, you should have been helping me! You could have held the boat!”

“Hey, I was going to! You decided to do this all by yourself!” Tobin wore a cocky grin.

Becky’s face popped up at the top of the embankment, “What’s going o... Oh my! Christen are you okay?”

For some reason, Tobin found Becky’s high level of concern funny, and began laughing even harder than before.

“Yes. I’m fine,” said Christen as she stood up. Her tone was quite depressed though. She grabbed the tent poles and trudged back to shore, and up to the campsite.

“I guess it’s early pajamas for you,” said Becky.

Lindsey had an immediate look of guilt.

“I didn’t bring any other clothes,” Christen admitted. 

“What?” Becky asked, confused.

Tobin’s laughter had died down, but hearing this, it re-emerged just as energetic as when Christen had first fell in. Christen sent a glaring side eye towards the Waterfront Director.

“Lindsey suggested I don’t bother bring extra clothes. So I didn’t”

Lindsey just shrugged, not denying the claim.

“Well, I guess some counselors do that...” Becky said.

The other women set up the tents, and cooked dinner as Christen did her best to dry out her clothes. She stripped down to her underwear and was waving her wet clothes around the fire that Abby had started. After a bit, Alyssa strung up a clothesline with some of the extra rope from the tents. It ran pretty close to the fire, and Christen hung up her shirt and pants. Still though, she was left a bit cold with not much on, and what she did keep on was waterlogged as well. As the sun began to sink into the horizon, Christen endeavored to stay as close as she could to the fire. She volunteered to cook, and she actually felt pretty good.

“See that?” said Abby pointing out over the lake, where the sun was setting, “That’s why we call this Evenfire Bay.”

Christen looked, and she saw that the sun had a long, bright orange reflection stretching across the entire lake. It looked like the water was on fire.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” she said, “So beautiful.” Christen was legitimately in awe.

Tobin had a remark too. “Yup. Orange. Like the color of my truck. It is pretty.”

Tobin thought there a few other beautiful things she was seeing at Evenfire Bay too. Christen was squatting next to the fire, half naked, cooking them all rice and beans. Tobin admired the Californian’s lean calves and thighs. Her butt looked nice too, Tobin thought. Tobin almost giggled when she realized what she thinking.

“Hey, what are you looking at,” Alyssa said to Tobin, elbowing her in the ribs. She said it softly enough that only Tobin could hear.

“Nothing. I’m just super hungry. I want to know exactly when dinner is done.”

Luckily for Tobin, the topic was dropped as Lindsey knelt next to Christen.

“Hey I’m super sorry I told you not to bring extra clothes,” she said. “This is all totally my fault.”

“No it’s not your fault. It’s more mine than yours. Not like you were there and could have held the boat or anything.”

Both Lindsey and Alyssa were oblivious to the jab towards Tobin, but Tobin caught it. “Pshh,” she said loud enough for Christen to hear as she rolled her eyes. 

Becky being the seasoned veteran she was, knew there was some tension brewing. She gave Tobin a disapproving look, before asking her to go gather some more firewood.

They all ate dinner together around the fire. Abby told some hilarious stories about the silly thing campers of the past few years had done and said. Lindsey had some stories too, most of them about the pranks pulled between staff. Christen told a story of how when she was a camper, her group stole all the forks from the kitchen as their big prank.

“I’ve heard about that one!” Lindsey exclaimed, “Legendary!”

After they had cleaned up, Becky announced they was going to cache the food. “You should come with,” she said to Christen.

Alyssa and Lindsey stayed to watch the fire, as Becky, Tobin, Abby, and Christen wandered off into the dark woods, in search of a tree with a perfect branch. Christen still was only in her underwear, but she knew this was something she didn’t know how to do yet and needed to learn. She figured it would only take a couple minutes too.

“The branch should be high enough that animal can’t reach it from the ground, but low enough that you can throw a rope over it,” explained Abby, “That way you can pull your food up to safety. The tree should be a decent ways from where you’re sleeping too. Just in case something does come by and tries to get a snack, you won’t scare each other.”

Finally they found the perfect tree. Becky gave Abby the rope to toss up over the branch. She tried a couple times, but had yet to get a good toss. One time a bit of the rope did go over, but not far enough that it could be reached to pull down to tie to the crate of food.

“This is always the hardest part,” Tobin mumbled.

Christen was beginning to get cold, being away from the fire for so long. She started to shiver.

Tobin silently smirked, still thinking the whole canoe incident was just about the funniest thing she had ever seen.

Christen caught eye of it. “Stop it!” she complained, “It’s not funny! I am _literally_ shivering over here!”

“I’m not laughing,” said Tobin, while clearly now laughing. There was something about being told not laugh that made it impossible not to.

“Ugh,” Christen complained again.

Becky took Tobin to the side, while Christen and Abby continued to work on getting the food cached.

“Tobin,” she said, “You got to cut it out. I know you find it all funny, but the poor girl fell into the lake and has no clothes for Pete’s sake!”

“I know, I know, but it is kind of funny, isn’t it?” Tobin offered.

Becky shook her head, before Tobin continued, “And you know what else? What do you expect? Princess walks in here thinking she knows everything because she came her once as a kid, and she doesn’t. It was stupid to crawl out onto the canoe like that, when you could just walk out. Where the back of the canoe was, it was like up to my knees. We all have shorts on, just kick of your shoes. And it was stupid to not being extra clothes too.”

“Lindsey told her to do that.”

“Yeah, and Lindsey knows how to not fall in a lake though. She should think for herself too, you know.”

Becky just sighed in frustration, “Whatever you think, just get it together Tobin. You’re gonna be living in MY unit all summer, and I don’t want to deal with it. Just try to be cordial, please, for me?”

Tobin waggled her head back and forth, like she was weighing her options. “Fine,” she said.

Back at the caching tree, Abby still hadn’t any luck and was getting frustrated. She had tried tying a stick to the end of rope, to give a little more weight for throwing. It wasn’t enough though, and any larger stick would be too cumbersome.

“Ooh, I have an idea,” said Christen. She pulled of one of her shoes.

“Taking more clothes off?” Abby joked.

“Haha, yeah,” said Christen with a smile. She took one end of the rope and tied it to the laces on the still waterlogged shoe. After a few tosses, the shoe successfully came barreling down from the black canopy, looped around the tree branch.

“Excellent!” said Becky, “That’s innovation right there. Thinking for yourself!”

Tobin definitely caught the hint. She pouted silently, but acknowledged to herself that maybe Becky was right. She always was, after all. Tobin made a decision she wouldn’t laugh anymore at Christen’s predicament, despite how hilarious the initial fall in was. It WOULD suck to be her, with no clothes right now.

Abby tied up the crate, and using the branch as a pulley, hauled the food stash up into the air. She then tied the other end off to the tree trunk. She wiped her hands, indicating they were done here, and they all made their way back to the campsite.

Christen almost ran to the fire’s side as soon as it was in her sights. Alyssa and Lindsey greeted her cheerfully, and made her a spot right in-between them. The each leaned on Christen, Lindsey also adding a hug, intent on helping Christen warm up again. Christen felt pretty privileged to be at Coldwood. She’s only been here a few days, and almost everyone welcomed her with open arms into their camp family. She didn’t even know Alyssa and Lindsey a week ago, and here they were being so generous, kind, and thoughtful to her. The sense of community, of helping each other out was exactly the type of environment Christen thought she needed to unwind from the competitive and taxing nature of college.

“Your clothes will definitely be dry in the morning if we keep the fire going,” said Alyssa. Christen nodded happily. She would be glad to not have to paddle back in her underwear.

Watching the flames of the fire dance around the burning logs was intoxicating. It really did have an essence about it that was more like art than a natural phenomenon. After staring into the orange flames for a while, Abby gave out a big yawn. Tobin and Alyssa followed not long after.

“I can’t wait to get into my sleeping bag,” proclaimed Christen.

“Me too,” added Becky.

“I guess it’s time,” added Abby. With that, they all made their way into the tents and settled in for the night.

In the morning, the light of dawn woke Tobin up. She knew she still had time before she had to get out of her sleeping bag, so she rolled over and pulled the hood of her sleeping bag over her eyes and tried to fall back asleep. She got a bit more rest, but then the birds were chirping and the squirrels starting running all around in the forest. She could hear the other staff rustling around too, but like her, no one actually wanted leave their comfy sleeping quarters.

A loon called to its partner from the lake. Tobin decided if that she couldn’t sleep in, she might as well get up and be productive. The fire was still smoldering, but with a little TLC and kindling, she got it going again. Christen, having heard someone else’s footsteps, poked her head out of her and Alyssa’s tent. She was still completely in her sleeping bag. Tobin thought she looked like a little bug, inching around with just her face sticking out.

Christen managed to get onto her feet, and hopped over to the makeshift clothesline. She freed one arm from her sleeping bag, and reached out to test the status of her clothes. They were dry, and a little bit crisp feeling too. And they smelled a lot like camp fire smoke. They were clothes though. She grabbed them and stuffed them down into her sleeping bag next to her chest, before returning to the tent she slept in. The commotions had caused Becky and Abby to exit from their tents too. A few minutes later, Christen re-emerged from her tent, back in full clothing.

“Looking good sis,” said Abby.

Over the course of the next hour, the rest of the team got up and going to. Tobin cooked breakfast, which was just oatmeal. They had brown sugar and fruit to give it a little flavor too. After that, they packed up their gear and headed back across the lake to the boating docks. Again, Tobin led the way with ferocity in her strokes.

Christen and Becky took their time, enjoying the calmness of the water in the morning. They weren’t in a rush, after all. Christen even spotted the loon that had been calling earlier in the morning. It flapped its wings to let everyone on the lake know where it was. Becky brought them along close to the shore too, while Tobin and Lindsey’s boats went straight across the open water. Christen could see turtles sitting on logs near shore and minnows darting away from the boat.

Ahead of them, Tobin was enjoying the wind in her hair and the ache in her arms. She never felt more alive than when she was out in a boat on the water. Canoe, kayak, sailboat, rowboat, it didn’t matter. Even paddle boards and surfboards counted by her measure too. To move a canoe, you had to work. Each stroke required dedication in both form and force. For Tobin, the fact that it wasn’t easy made the whole activity that much more satisfying. Each paddle felt like achievement, rather than just a passive action.

Tobin steered the boat in parallel to the dock at the beach and climbed out nimbly. She barely even caused to boat to rock at all. She helped Alyssa out, and they threw all the supplies they had brought over onto shore. It looked like they were the first ones back out of all the units. By the time Lindsey and Abby came in, Tobin and Alyssa already had the metal canoe back up onto the boat rack. They all helped get that boat unpacked and back onto the canoe racks as well.

Becky and Christen arrived a few minutes after that.

“Nice of you to join us,” said Lindsey.

“I wanted to show Christen just how gorgeous our Grace Lake is.”

“I saw a beaver hut!” exclaimed Christen.

Lindsey and Abby laughed at Christen’s enthusiasm. To them, it was just a pile of sticks they saw all the time. Sure, the beavers built it, but you never actually saw them there.

Christen got out and leaned her paddle against a nearby tree with the flat end down. The rest of their team got most the stuff out of the boat, and her and Becky lifted the canoe from the water and carried it over to the racks. They were only about 50 feet away, but sometimes getting a boat back up on them required a little bit of coordination. They fumbled a bit, but Becky managed to guide them both through a strategy that got the boat back to where it was stored at before.

They all as a group took the tents, tarps, ropes, and cooking gear back to main camp. Everyone had something to carry. They decided they would leave their personal stuff at the docks and go back to get it in a little bit. Then, they would be able to head straight back to Rosebud where they could unpack, unwind, and shower before continuing with the rest of the day.

As they got back to the beach, it was evident that Pinoe’s crew had been through. They had left their stuff scattered about around the boating dock area. Tobin wasn’t even sure where they had gone, as they left an assortment of food, tents, and even a sleeping bag or two. It wasn’t like they had gone to one place, to say, bring back their extra food and cooking gear to the dining hall. Then Tobin, saw it, the paddle leaning against a tree, the blade down in the dirt. How many times had she told Pinoe not to that? You never, ever, put a paddle blade end down in the ground. It wears and tears at it, and the blade end much less durable than the reinforced handle end. Next thing you know, the whole thing is splintering. You get a big chip, or crack down the middle, and you got to buy new ones. Not to mention, when a paddle starts chipping, kids are being exposed to a safety hazard in terms of getting pricked by the tiny pieces of wood or even getting them stuck in their hands.

Tobin rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly. “Paddle blade down in the dirt. Of course _she_ would do this.”

Christen was shocked. That was her paddle she had put next to the tree. How was she supposed to know not to leave it that way? No one had told her any different!

“Ugh,” Christen said, finally fed up with Tobin’s attitude, “Can you just cut me a break? I’m trying to learn. Can you try not to be so rude?”

Tobin realized her mistake. And how much of a terrible person she must look like right now. She attempted to defend herself “No, no, I didn’t know...”

“What, you didn’t think I would be take notice of your little comment?” Christen interrupted, “Did you think I would just let it slide, to meek to say anything, like yesterday?”

“Yesterday? What about yesterday?”

“Oh, how funny you thought it was that I fell in!” Christen was yelling now. “You laughed, and laughed, so very much. I bet you purposely stood there, not holding the boat, hoping I would dump myself in!”

Now Tobin was riled up too. She took water safety very seriously, and if she had been able to hold the boat, she would have. Tobin was worried Christen might flip or hurt herself, which was why she had said Christen’s name in such a concerned manner. Sure, it had made Christen turn around, and thus dump the boat anyhow, but that’s just how it was. Tobin only started laughing when she knew Christen was okay. Fueled by this truth, and protecting her own honor, Tobin decided to let her opinion be known.

“WHAT!?” she said dramatically.

The rest of Rosebud looked increasingly concerned, and also like they didn’t want to be there. It didn’t help that the Tadpole unit could be seen coming across the lake as well. The way sound traveled over the water, it was no doubt they could hear the yelling too.

Tobin continued, “You think I _purposely_ let you fall in the water yesterday! You’re a crazy person! I would never! I care the most about water safety than anyone else in this place. Why? Because I care about camp. If anything bad happened to anyone here, it would reflect poorly on Coldwood, and that’s the last thing I want. I love this place with all my heart, and you’re… you’re just some girl who’s here to ‘get away’ or to ‘be with nature’ and well we’re not like that here!”

“Christen, Tobin...” started Becky, trying to stop the yelling.

“You don’t even know me!” Christen shouted again. “I do love this place, but you won’t even give me a chance to show it! Yeah, I’m bad at a lot of the stuff you’re a natural at. Well, I’ve never worked at a summer camp before, and I’m learning. You’re just a mean gatekeeper!”

Pinoe and the Gaia unit came into sight from the woods where the trail met the open area of the beach. They all wore confused faces, not knowing what the yelling was about. The whole camp was now spectators to Christen and Tobin’s blowup.

“Argh!” yelled Tobin, “You think I’m too quick to assume? You know, I wasn’t even talking about you when I made the comment about the paddle.”

Tobin pointed to Pinoe. “I thought she had left it that way, and I’ve told her a million times not to that!”

Pinoe, realizing she was had somehow been brought into the argument, quickly noped out. She said something to her unit, which was probably along the lines ‘let’s come back at a better time’ and then turned about face back towards the trail.

Tobin continued, “You said I wouldn’t even give you a chance, well guess what, you’re definitely not getting it now! Accusing me of letting you fall in... how ridiculous.”

Christen had realized she was wrong to have not let Tobin explain herself. She was mortified for a moment, but Tobin had by this point, had said some words that could not be forgotten easily.

“You’re bitter. And conceited,” said Christen. “I honestly feel bad for you.” Christen knew it wasn’t true, but it felt good to leave a sting.

“Pshh,” Tobin said, brushing it off. She had enough. She angrily grabbed the paddle and marched off to the boat shed to put it back into its place.

Christen marched off too, in the opposite direction. She wasn’t sure exactly where she was going, but she knew she couldn’t be around anyone right now. She was far too full of frustration, mostly at Tobin, but a little bit at herself too.

With the yelling match over, Becky mustered an awkward, “Well... we better get our stuff back the unit,” to Abby and Lindsey.

“Yikes. Good luck with that,” Alyssa as she thumbed towards the directions both Tobin and Christen had left. She then grabbed her stuff and headed back to main camp, presumably to the cabin where the kitchen staff stayed.

Abby and Lindsey started to grab Christen and Tobin’s stuff, to bring it back to the unit for them. Becky stopped them though. It would be better if they could find their stuff where they left it when they had both cooled down. Plus, they really didn’t deserve to have Lindsey and Abby carry their stuff. Both Christen and Tobin were acting way out line. After getting her stuff unpacked back at Rosewood, Becky then went to the shower house so she could wash the dirt and grime of their overnight experience off. She took a very, very long shower, contemplating what exactly she was going to do with those two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Bday CP. Sorry for dumping you in a lake. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Christen are forced to reconcile their differences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next chapter... things start to get interesting :)

At lunch in the dining hall, neither Tobin nor Christen were to be found. With Tadpole unit all approaching the boating docks in their canoes, and Gaia unit on their way to pick up the rest of their gear at the beach, nearly everyone in camp had witnessed the outburst between the two. And those who didn’t, would certainly find out quickly.

Most people just acted normal at lunch, carrying on with themselves as usual. There was some whispering between a couple people here and there though. The Camp Director picked up on it. She heard a few too many hushed “Did you see?” and “What was it about?” before she started tuning in more closely.

“She’s always so calm. I’ve never seen her blow up like that.”

“She seems so nice and cheerful. I wonder what happened.”

“Becky’s gonna be in for it this year.”

That’s when Foudy noticed that out of Becky’s crew, the Rosebud unit, both Tobin and Christen were missing. Things started to click into place. She grabbed Becky and Kelley and took them outside, so she could figure out what happened.

“Where’s Tobin and Christen?” she asked.

Becky sighed. “They got into an argument this morning. They were yelling at each other, and I haven’t seen them since. I think they both just need some time to cool off.

“Wait, what?” Kelley said, “Tobin and Christen? They were yelling at each other? About what?”

“Honestly I’m not even 100% sure. Christen fell in the lake yesterday, at Evenfire Bay, and I think she might blame Tobin? And then Tobin was upset about a paddle today? I think there’s more to it than that. I think they just don’t like each other.”

“This is not cool. Tobin is my number one camp buddy and Christen is my college one. They CAN NOT be fighting.” Kelley was still half in disbelief.

Foudy had a serious look on her face. She stroked her chin with her thumb and forefinger as she thought. “Whatever it is, they better work it out. Becky, see if you can help them. If it’s too much, don’t be afraid to bring me in too. They don’t have to like each other, but they are both working here this summer, so they have to at least be cordial and respectful to each other.”

“I’ll talk to them this afternoon,” said Becky.

As it would be, Becky would not get the chance to talk to them before the next activity, as neither one of them showed up. Becky relayed this information to the Camp Director and Kelley. It was one thing to skip out on lunch, but the preparation everyone did during pre-camp was part of their jobs. Christen did show up about halfway through the afternoon. She had a talk with Becky, and apologized, but acknowledged that Kelley and/or Foudy would want to talk to her too.

Everyone was at the arts and crafts building doing a deep clean and organization of the place. Kelley stepped outside for some privacy. She radioed back to main camp, “Found Christen. Should I send her over?”

“Is Tobin around too?” Foudy answered.

“Nope.”

There was a paused before the Camp Director responded again, “Wait for Tobin. See if you can talk to them together. See where they are at.”

Since Christen missed out on the first half of the deep cleaning, she made herself useful by taking on the cabinets that stored all the various paints. It was a total mess, and clearly had been avoided so far. She figured she deserved messy job after skipping out.

Christen could feel the eyes on her. She wasn’t sure how many people had actually seen the fight other than her unit mates, but it was clear word had gotten around anyhow. How embarrassing, she thought. She had only been here a few days, and she had made a total fool of herself. She was afraid she had really screwed up everything for herself, and what was supposed to be a magical summer. She felt bad for Kelley too. Kelley had gotten her to come back to camp, and now she probably looked like she had poor judgment for a bringing a psycho to camp. One who had riled up camp hero Tobin Heath.

Christen finished placing the last two paint bottles neatly in their newly washed out bin, and put the whole thing back on the shelf in the cabinet. She looked around, to see what she could tackle next. Pinoe caught her gaze, and gestured her to come over.

“Christen, I could use your help untangling all this yarn.”

“Ok,” said Christen as she sat down at the table and got to work. She wasn’t feeling all that talkative.

Pinoe on the other hand, knew Christen probably needed someone to talk to.

“Hey kid,” she said, “You don’t have to tell me anything. But if you want to, I’m a real good listener.”

Christen forced herself a small smile, as to not be rude. It was nice knowing at least one person didn’t hate her too though.

“I guess I feel like I really messed up. I was just getting to know you all, and I can’t help but believe you all think I’m crazy now.”

“My papa always told me ‘It takes two to argue.’ I don’t know what exactly happened, and I don’t need to, but I absolutely don’t put all the blame on you.”

“Huh. It’s just I keep hearing how Tobin is like this superhero of camp. I figured having beef with her would make you all be not so fond of me.”

“Pssssh. Superheroes aren’t real. We’re all human, and everyone here at camp knows that. Foudy is real good at hiring people who have that type of outlook on life.”

“Kelley told me I might have to have a meeting with her later today. Do you... Do you think she’ll fire me?”

“HA!” Pinoe laughed, “Foudy has never fired anyone. If she fired everyone who got in a spat, we’d all be gone. Well, yours was a little louder than most, but you are still like a billion times better than the worst person I’ve ever seen here. And Foudy still didn’t fire her, though she ended up leaving on her own accord.”

This peaked Christen’s attention. “Really? What was ‘the worst’ like? What happened?”

Pinoe finished up neatly wrapping the ball of pink yarn she had and placed it into the wooden chest beside them. “One summer Foudy hired this girl, Jaelene. She seemed cool at first. You know how we have flags all over camp though?”

“Yeah. Like the American, Earth... and I think New York State flag at main camp?”

“Yup. And we got a few others around other parts of camp too. World Peace, American Camp Association, and the gay pride flag, which is next to the sand volley ball court.”

Christen thought she knew where this was going. “And?” she asked.

Pinoe continued, “Well she started saying she was concerned about it, the rainbow flag. She said she thought it might deter parents from sending their kids to camp here. I get it, there’s still a lot of homophobia out there, but Kelley tried to explain to her that we want kids to feel welcome, and that they can be themselves here. She kept bringing it up though, but obviously we left the flag up. Then it got to a point, two weeks into the camp sessions, I think where she figured out there were a couple of ~gays~ on staff with her.” Pinoe rolled her eyes upward, and pointed to herself with a little smile and wiggle.

“Then it became this whole, ‘the gay pride flag makes me feel uncomfortable and excluded’ thing she was doing. Foudy put her foot down, and gave her a choice. Either accept we flew a rainbow flag, or leave. She packed up her stuff and a booked a flight out the next day.”

“Wow,” said Christen, “She sounds awful.”

“She was. And you are definitely not. No way in hell Foudy is firing either you or Tobin. That’s crazy thoughts right there. Don’t worry about it.”

Hearing Pinoe say that, Christen felt a little better, as that was her worst fear at the moment. She knew whatever talking-to she was getting still wasn’t going to be pleasant, but she felt she could deal with it now.

Kelley burst into the room, throwing open the door. Christen didn’t even realize she had slipped out, but she definitely noticed her return. It was only when everyone turned to her that Kelley realized how loud and brash she was in her entrance.

She flashed a little smile and said, “Don’t mind me,” so everyone would turn their attention back to whatever it was they were doing. She attempted to wander over to Christen without drawing further attention. Kelley leaned over and said quietly, “Tobin’s outside. I want to talk to both of you.”

Christen knew she didn’t have a choice, so she got nodded and started to get up.

Pinoe had one last piece of support. “Don’t sweat it kid. You’ll be fine.”

Outside, Tobin was sitting on the bench of a picnic table, arms crossed, and staring at the patch of dirt in front of her. The camp golf cart was parked a few meters away. She had changed into a hoodie, basketball shorts, and was brandishing her trucker hat again, this time backwards. She was seemingly intent at ignoring Kelley and Christen as they approached. Christen was fine by that. She was gonna let Kelley lead whatever conversation was about to happen.

“As your friend,” Kelley began, “I can tell you guys that you two are both more alike than you would like to admit. Passionate, to a point of insanity. Confident as hell. And I love you both. With you guys fighting... Ugh, please just try to make up.”

Neither Christen nor Tobin say anything. They are both waiting for the other to apologize first. They both refused eye contact.

“Stubborn to a point of insanity too,” Kelley added, in a mumbled voice. “Both of you get in,” she says pointing to the golf cart. They all knew they were going to main camp, where Foudy could deal with the two troublemakers. 

The golf cart had one normal seat in the front, and one facing backwards on the back. Tobin got in on the passenger side of the front seat. She kept her head down, staring intently at a spot on the ground like she was before at the picnic table. This was fine by Christen. Ignoring each other until they got to the office was for the best. Kelley hopped in the driver’s seat, and Christen’s sat on the back seat, so her back was to Kelley and Tobin. Kelley took off, driving the cart towards main camp.

Kelley was the first one to speak on the drive. “You know, I really hate this. Ever since I found out, I’ve been having this thought, that I’m gonna have to choose between you two, and it’s breaking my fucking heart.” Her disappointment in both of them was clear. Christen guessed she probably wanted to say that for a while.

“No,” both Christen and Tobin said at the same time. It was a bit awkward as they tried to figure out which of the two of them should speak first, catching each other’s eyes finally, the first time since the argument. Tobin stayed silent and let Christen talk.

“We would never ask you to choose between us. Please don’t ever think either of us would do that to you.”

Tobin shrugged her shoulders, as if she was reluctant to agree with Christen, but did nevertheless. “I totally agree,” she said.

It was silent the rest of the quick drive over. The ride was probably only two or three minutes long, but for everyone on the golf cart, it felt much longer.

Christen and Tobin were sat in two chairs in front of the Camp Director’s desk. Foudy paced back and forth on the other side. She had her arms half crossed, with one forearm vertical along her chest so the knuckles of her clenched fist just about touched the bottom side of her jaw.

After a few seconds of silence, which were tortuous for Christen and Tobin, she went straight into what she wanted to say to them. “You two missed part of this afternoon. I know it seems unimportant, but we have a very limited amount of time to get this place ready for kids to be here. I’m disappointed in both of you in regards to that, but that’s not the only reason you two are here right now. I can’t have two staff members that openly loathe each other. We have kids who come here from broken families. They see enough of that at home. For the campers, this is their home for however long they stay, and part of our job is to be a sort of family for them when they are here. Sometimes it takes a bit of acting to pull that off. I get it, not everybody is gonna jive with everybody else. But at a minimum, you have to not hate each other. Kids will pick up on that.”

Tobin understood what Foudy was saying. She was right. It was part of that camp magic, that kids always felt like they were in a loving environment while they were here. She knew it could be scary to a kid when their parents fought, and she definitely didn’t want any reminders of that type of stuff for campers while they were at Coldwood.

Both Christen and Tobin didn’t have anything to say. They were waiting for their punishment. Foudy continued.

“I want you two to get over whatever animosity you have towards each other. As individuals, I like both of you. I would like to see a bond forged between you two that is positive, rather than negative. Something along the lines respect, even if it’s begrudging, so you will at least be civil to each other.”

Christen could acknowledge that the way she brought up her grievances with Tobin earlier, were far from civil. She could understand where Foudy’s request was coming from.

Foudy pulled out a polaroid from one of the drawers in her desk and showed it to Tobin and Christen. “These are my two kids,” she said.

The photo was of two children, both in one big T-shirt that had the words ‘Our Get Along Shirt’ written on it. Both kids looked miserable.

“I saw the idea for the shirt online, but it worked with my kids. Metaphorically speaking, it’s what I’m gonna do to you guys too. Tomorrow night, you will be going another overnight. Just the two of you.”

Tobin looked towards the board where the weekly weather was always written. Tomorrow night it would be dropping into the low 40s (deg F, 4-7 deg C). Tobin complained, “It’s gonna be cold tomorrow! Can’t we like clean all the latrines or something?”

“No,” said Foudy, “You are definitely going. I think this is the most effective way to teach you guys to cooperate and work together on such a short notice. And you’ll be going to Square Eddy point. ”

“That’s the farthest one...” mumbled Tobin.

Christen closed her eyes for a few seconds and breathed a sigh of relief. To her, this wasn’t so bad. It was just one night. She just had to get through it. Then, she could just do her best to keep contact with Tobin to a minimum. Christen was a counselor, Tobin was not, and there were other lifeguards, so it could be done.

Tobin had her arms crossed, and had a slight pout, but she knew there was nothing to be done. Foudy had made her decision and that was that. Tobin figured she would just have to try to enjoy her time out on the river. It was after all, one of her happy places. If it went anything like the afternoon, her and Christen would be barely talking anyhow, so it would be practically like some well needed alone time anyhow. Yeah, she preferred to frame it like that.

The events of the evening and first half of the next day went about as normal as possible. It was just typical time during pre-camp. At the dining hall, just after noon, Tobin gave a slip of paper to Christen. It had a brief list of stuff they would need for their forced overnight camping trip.

“I’ll get the rest,” she said, “Meet me at the docks at 3.”

Christen looked at the list. It looked fair, being about half the supplies they would need to bring. It being only two of them, they really didn’t much anyhow. “Ok,” she said, while nodding her head. Tobin then walked away.

Both women did exactly what was expected of them by the other. Tobin was all set to go, the canoe in the water, her stuff in it already, when Christen showed up at the beach at precisely 2:52 PM. She put her half of the stuff in too, and climbed in the front. They hadn’t said a word to each other, but Christen knew Tobin was the more experienced paddler. She was the waterfront director after all, so it made sense for her to be in the back, which had greater control of the boat.

Without anyone to race, Tobin opted to paddle at a more reasonable rate. Christen wondered if it was because while she was willing to paddle Alyssa around, she wasn’t for her. Christen didn’t mind. She didn’t really want to be paddled around by someone else either.

They hugged the shore of the lake until they came to a small creek. It was shallow enough that you could see the bottom, the water plants, and fish swimming around below the surface. It was also deep enough though that they didn’t need to worry about the boat hitting anywhere either. Well for most of it. There was one wide shallow sandy section they had to cross. Tobin stepped out of the boat barefoot, and gave the boat a push over the sandy bump. Christen could hear the sound of the dirt below sliding against the bottom of the canoe. Tobin hopped in, again seamlessly, and they were on their way. They had to maneuver around a few rocks and downed trees, but it was easy for the two of them. Christen pointed them out, the first speaking they did to each other on their little trip, and Tobin navigated around them with ease.

The windy little creek eventually then let out into larger river. This too, was still a calm body of water. The flow of water was gentle enough that there weren’t any rapids. They were going upriver, so it was a little slower than going across the lake, but they still made good time. They came to bend in the river where the water made a hard turn. It caused some of water to swirl around near the inside riverbank, still mild though. The rocks near shore though, contained the swirling to a section that somewhat resemble a square. Well, at least it was squarer looking that most very circular rotations of water.

“This is it,” Tobin said.

As they rounded the corner, Christen could see the area on shore where you could pull up the boats. It wasn’t actually a point, just part of the riverbank, but because of the river bend, it did somewhat resemble one.

They navigated the boat up next to shore and Christen hopped out first. She pulled the front of the canoe up on the river bank a little bit, so Tobin didn’t have to step in so deep of water. Tobin seemed to appreciate that, offering a quick, “Thanks.”

Both Tobin and Christen were prompt about unpacking and getting everything set up. Christen brought their stuff up to the flat cleared out area that overlooked the river. Tobin set off to gather some firewood. When she got back, she got to setting up the tent, while Christen started a fire and cooked them both something to eat.

Tobin couldn’t help but notice how seamless the whole evening was going. It was surprising. They were barely talking, but just seemed to know exactly what needed to be done and who should do it. Christen’s fire was excellent. She had arranged the sticks into a teepee frame, shoving the inside with kindling. Tobin always liked that method better than the A or log cabin frame methods. It always seemed to catch the large sticks, and later logs alight much faster. You didn’t end up with half burnt pieces the next morning. It was nice and clean in her opinion.

After she was done setting up the tent, she went and sat next to the fire. It was already starting to feel a bit cold, and the sun wasn’t even set yet. She sat on one of the logs put there purposely to allow sitting close to the fire circle. Christen was half next to her, half in front of her, kneeling next to the fire. She was finishing up the food.

“Hey,” Tobin said, “That’s a nice fire.”

“I had good firewood,” Christen replied, “It was easy.”

Tobin was ready to talk. She hoped Christen was too.

“Listen... I think we should talk about... you know...the whole thing from yesterday.”

Christen was listening, but was waiting for Tobin to say whatever it is she wanted to.

“I guess I feel bad about how everything blew up. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry about that.”

There was a brief pause, before Christen responded. She looked up from the fire, and out into the woods across from her for a moment. She was processing and deciding what she should say.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you too,” she said.

Christen kept the conversation progressing. “I know now that you thought the paddle was Pinoe’s. I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up about it right away.”

“No. That was my bad. I shouldn’t have assumed it was hers. It’s just, I’ve told her like a million times not to do that, and she always still leaves them around like that. It makes me frustrated. If I had known it was yours, I would have just mentioned nicely, you know, ‘hey we don’t actually want to leave the paddles blade down like that.’ It’s been a while since you’ve been her, and never as staff. I get it that there’s things you’re gonna need refreshed.”

“Yeah I definitely didn’t know that. Why aren’t you supposed to leave them that way? Just out of curiosity.”

“The blades are weaker than the handle, cause their thinner. They just tend to wear and tear faster if you’re constantly banging the blade side on the ground.”

Christen handed Tobin her dinner. It was nice and warm, and made Tobin feel a little less chilly. Now not sitting so close to fire, Christen went and grabbed her sweatshirt to bundle up into.

“Definitely brought extra clothes this time,” Christen said. Tobin smiled a little at that.

“I didn’t purposely let you fall in, by the way,” Tobin added, “I know I was being a bit of dick, laughing about it, but I wish I had it on video so I could show you. You, like, went over in slow motion. It really was hilarious. I apologize that it might have come off that I was laughing at you.”

Christen cracked a small smile at that, thinking back to two days prior when she dumped herself into the lake. Yeah, it probably was pretty funny to watch. “I didn’t actually think you were standing there, hoping I would fall in. I was just so angry, you know how accusations can fly when you’re in a state like that.”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m guilty of saying some stuff yesterday I didn’t actually mean too. I think it is best we just forget what was said.”

“Agreed,” said Christen. After a moment, she did follow up though. “What you said about me, being here just to trot around in nature though, that kind of stung. Like I know I haven’t been here since I was a kid, but I do love this place a lot. It saved me.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m from California, lived there almost my entire life. But when I was 11, my dad got a new job out here on the east coast, in Boston. We moved and lived there for just over a year before he got a transfer back to California. We moved in February, and I ended up going to a small private school in Massachusetts. All the other kids had been in the same class since they were in kindergarten, and knew each other so well. I can be kind of shy, so I had a lot of trouble becoming a part of their group, you know. Like, I didn’t have any friends. Those couple months that made up the rest of the school year were terrible. I was miserable because I had no one my age to talk to or hang out with. I missed all my friends in California, and was basically crying myself to sleep every night.”

“Oh man,” said Tobin, “That sucks.”

“Yeah, it did. But then my parents signed me up for a week of camp here, at Coldwood. All the kids were from all over the northeast, and though a few knew each other from prior summers or because they brought a friend, most didn’t know very many people either. They were all eager to make friends. Especially Kelley. Everyone seemed to know her because she always came every year and stayed for the entire summer. She just took me under her wing though, and introduced me to everyone, so I had a bunch of camp friends. Even now at school she still does that. She drags me to BBQs, events, and parties so I meet new people. I basically need a Kelley in my life to get me out the house.”

Tobin smiled, “Yeah that sounds like Kelley. That’s really cool, how you guys became friends like that.”

“Yeah. I was only signed up for the first week, but when my parents came to pick me up, I begged them to let me stay the whole summer, like Kelley was.”

“And they let you?”

Christen laughed. “Yeah. I put on quite the act, crying and telling them I would literally die if they didn’t let me stay. I think they ended up caving because they could see, after months of me being sad, that I was happy again. Kelley and I have been long distance best friends ever since, and my parents sent me to a new, larger school in the fall where I was able to make some school friends. I think that summer here gave me a lot of confidence too, which helped in the friend making department as well.”

Tobin lifted her head to stare off across the top of the flames, and into the forest. She held her now empty bowl carelessly in one hand. It was starting to get dark now, the sky lit a soft blue. “Camp definitely has its way of saving people. That’s for sure. I think everyone here has a story like that. It’s what keeps them coming back. God knows it’s not for the pay.” They both laughed at that.

“So what about you? Did camp save you too?” asked Christen. It was something that Tobin had just insinuated, but didn’t seem 100% confident to bring up in detail herself. Christen wanted to give her that chance. She had just poured huge part of herself out onto Tobin, she didn’t want to deny her the same opportunity.

“Well I guess so,” Tobin began a bit reluctantly. It wasn’t a topic she talked about often, but something about the vulnerability Christen had just shown made Tobin feel like it was okay.

“So you know how you asked me if I was done with school, cause I’m here from April to October?”

“Yeah. When you drove me from the airport.”

“While that’s technically true, it’s because I dropped out after my first year.”

Christen didn’t say anything. She wasn’t judging either.

Tobin continued, “School... just isn’t for me. I didn’t want to go to college, but my parents practically forced me too. They kept saying I should just try it. Then I did... it’s not that it was too difficult or anything. I did okay that first year, didn’t fail any classes or anything... but I wasn’t happy. I was sitting in a classroom learning about all these great people who accomplished so much in their lives, and I just wanted to be more like them. I’ve always been woman of action. I wanted to do things rather than just learn about what other people were doing. Does that make sense? No one seems to get it, and you go to Stanford, so you probably jive with school pretty hard.”

“No,” said Christen, “I get it. I’m sure a lot of people have told you that you can do things too in college, right? And that you’re wasting those opportunities by leaving.”

“Actually, yeah. That’s exactly what my parents said.”

“College is a good place if you want to do certain things, but it’s not for everything. I’m guessing the things you want to do in your life, you wouldn’t find them on a campus.”

“The thing is, I’m still not sure exactly what I want to do either. All I know is that I love being outdoors, so I’ve been doing everything I can since then to do that.”

“What about your parents now? How do they feel about everything?”

“Ugh. Don’t get me started. They were really mad at me for quitting school. Things seem to only get worse between us. Every time I talk to them they badger me, asking when I’m going back. I know they are just trying to look out for me, but I really thought they would understand that it’s been two years now, and I really, really don’t want too.”

Christen nodded, “I mean, I get where they’re coming from. I think just want the best for you. Doesn’t mean they’re right, but I’m sure they’ll come to understand with time.”

“I sure hope so. That first year, when I told them I wasn’t going back in the fall, they told me not to come home.”

“What? Like the kicked you out?” Christen was shocked.

“Yeah, exactly like that. That’s how camp saved me. I needed a job, and a place to stay. That’s the nice thing about summer camp. Room and board are part of the gig. I stayed on in the fall to do the property maintenance and rental management stuff until I lined up a job as ski instructor in Colorado for the winter. The thing that hurts the most though, is losing their support. Like they always said, ‘We’ll always support you no matter what,’ and then they didn’t. Like, even being gay was fine for them, but dropping out of school crossed some imaginary line.”

“Huh. Yeah, I went through that a little bit when I came out to my parents. They came around though. Kicking you out of the house though... you could have been homeless.”

“I was for a bit. Just me and the truck.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say to you, except that sucks. Like a lot. I know that doesn’t mean much, but it’s all I really got.”

“No it does mean something. It’s true,” Tobin laughed, “It sucks and that’s a fact!” Both women were laughing now.

They sat out at the fire for a while longer, enjoying its warmth. Neither was eager to venture away from it to head over to the tent. They talked about all the stuff they were looking forward to this summer, their siblings, and whatever else came up. Tobin told some funny stories of her time as a ski instructor. She mainly taught kids, and they always said and did ridiculous stuff. Christen pointed out a few constellations they could see through the opening of the trees. She also explained that though it was the clear night that allowed them to see the stars, the lack of insulating clouds was also letting the earth’s heat escape, thus the chilly night.

As the fire died down, Tobin asked “Should we put more wood on, or should we get to bed?”

“Probably bed. I’m not sure what time it is, but it feels late. I’m tired.”

“Glad you’re feeling that way too,” said Tobin.

They both made their way over to the tent and got inside their sleeping bags, hoping their own body heat would heat them up quickly. Being right next to the fire was missed by both of them. Christen tried to fall asleep, but even inside her sleeping bag, she was cold. It made relaxing and drifting off to dreamland difficult. She wondered if Tobin was having the same experience, but figured the other woman was probably prepared enough to bring a heavier duty sleeping bag or warmer clothes. She lay awake for some time, listening to the owls hoot and the wind rustle the trees above them. Christen figured eventually she would fall asleep from exhaustion, and at least get a few hours of sleep.

Out of the darkness, Tobin whispered, “Christen... are you awake?”

“Yes. Unfortunately. I’m cold and can’t seem to fall asleep.”

“Yeah. Me too. I’m freezing. Can we like, be closer, for warmth?”

Christen let out a hushed giggle, “Tobin Heath, are you asking me to cuddle with you?”

“Shut up. Yes. So are you in or out?”

“Better than shivering all night. Get over here.”

Tobin rolled like a log, one complete revolution, so she was right next Christen.

“We both have mummy bags. I don’t know how this is gonna work,” said Tobin. “I don’t want to take my arms out, and I’m assuming you don’t either.”

“Hang on,” said Christen, “We can just zip the bags together. I’ve done it before.”

“Oh, so you have?” said Tobin.

If Christen could have seen Tobin’s eyebrows, she would have seen them give a mocking wiggle. If Tobin could have seen Christen’s eyes, she would have seen them roll in response.

“Do you have a flashlight?” asked Christen.

Tobin dug around in her sleeping bag until she found the head lamp she had put in the front pocket of her hoodie. She turned it on, while Christen zipped the two bags sleeping bags together. Tobin shivered, as the cold air was fresh on her exposed skin. She admired Christen’s efficiency in her effort to get the sleeping bags zipped up again.

“I call big spoon,” said Tobin.

“No way, I’m taller than you,” said Christen.

“I’m definitely taller,” proclaimed Tobin.

“You are definitely not.”

“Well even if I’m not, I have longer arms.”

Longer arms? Christen was amused by that comment. “Fine have it your way. Small spoon is always warmer.”

“Hey...” Tobin said as she realized Christen was right. “Oh I see. Using that big Stanford brain to trick me. Not nice, Christen. Tsk Tsk.”

“Can we just go to sleep?”

“Yeah, yeah, goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen and Tobin return from their camping trip. Later, the camp staff decides to go night time skinny dipping.

Tobin did end up being big spoon. She felt a little awkward about the whole thing, but she WAS finally warm for the first time since they had left the fire. Her arm rested lightly on Christen’s side, and the other one half under her head. The chill of the air wasn’t keeping her up anymore, but the electricity running though her hot blooded veins was. Christen’s curls tingled Tobin’s left hand, and she could smell the scent of camp fire smoke and shampoo in her hair. Tobin just remained still, and told her mind to think of other things, like what fishing lures she wanted to try.

Christen was very conscious of Tobin’s arm was resting loosely on her own ribcage. From afar, the arm was obviously well muscled, but now, Christen could feel the density and weight of it. Other than her bicep, Tobin was barely touching her, but the heat from her core was evident across Christen’s back. That was the intent of their proximity anyhow, but it still felt somewhat unexpected to Christen. She wondered if she was alone in how suddenly not tired she felt. The adrenaline was coursing. She was more awake than any moment since the sun had set.

Christen told herself to relax and clear her mind. She focused on each individual breath, like when she meditated. Once she did that, she knew her mind would relax enough that she could drift to sleep. It was nice being held, and that’s all that mattered. Who it was or the circumstances didn’t need to be overthought. Finally, Christen focusing on that, fell asleep, and Tobin was not much behind her in that too.

Come morning, the birds began to softly chirp in the distance and light illuminated the navy and green tent. During the night, Christen must have flipped over, as she now facing her sleeping bag companion. Their arms and legs were loosely overlapped in a few spots. Their faces just inches apart.

Christen’s eye fluttered open as the increasing light levels and small forest animal activity finally woke her up. There was a sudden realization of just how close in proximity to Tobin she was. She sucked in a sharp breath, which woke Tobin up as well. The both jolted apart and were sitting upright, with sufficient space between them in fraction of a second.

“Hey,” Tobin said, playing it cool.

“Good morning.”

“I... uh, have to pee.” It was true, but it also gave Tobin an excuse to get out of the tent as soon as possible.

Christen got changed while Tobin was gone. She also rolled up both their sleeping bags. The two got through their morning activities pretty quickly, which was good because they had slept in a little. It wasn’t long until they were just about ready to head back to camp. Tobin loaded up the front end of the canoe then spun it around so the back was closest to shore. She sat on the end, one leg over each side, holding the boat steady as Christen walked out into the shallow water to get in her spot at the front. When Christen was settled, Tobin repositioned herself so one foot was in the water, and the other lightly in the center of the canoe, just in front of her seat at the back. She crouched and then pushed off with the foot in the river. As she did, she ever so delicately shifted her weight over to the foot in the canoe, and made herself at home. Once seated, she picked up her paddle from where it lay in front of her, and they were on their way.

They almost immediately passed the swirling water at the bend Christen had noticed the day before.

“That there is why they call it Square Eddy point,” said Tobin.

“Because the swirling water? I know those are called eddies.”

“Yeah, and the rocks around it make it a bit more rectangular than most. You should see this river in the spring though, when the snowmelt comes through. It looks so calm now, but it gets crazy down river a bit more. Real rapids.”

“Don’t tell me you’re crazy enough to go down them.”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. I’ve definitely ran it a time or two.”

The paddled lazily, as they were now going downriver to get back to the connector creek. Christen smiled as she enjoyed the morning sunshine reflecting off the water. She saw some ducks near shore, and they even quacked for her.

“Our overnight spot is upriver,” said Tobin, “because you are usually tired the next morning coming back. This way, you can relax a little. Not have to work against the current to get where you’re going.”

It made sense to Christen. She remembered being super excited to pack up her sleeping bag and paddle across the lake as a camper. She was full of anticipation because her counselor had told them if the weather was good, they could sleep out under the stars. They had, and stayed up half the night watching for shooting stars and telling each other their wishes.

Soon Tobin spotted the outlet of the connector creek they were looking for. She carefully steered the boat so that the water pushed them right into it. Now, they were technically going against the flow of the water to get back to Coldwood, but the stream was so small and calm, it wasn’t noticeably more difficult than going across flat water. They came to the sand bar again that made the little creek wide and shallow. The boat came to a slow stop as it slid into the soft sand.

Christen turned her head around to face Tobin. “Sand bar?” she said.

“Yup.” Tobin flung her left foot out into the stream and got out. Christen did too, not wanting to inconvenience Tobin.

“The water is so nice here,” Christen commented.

“Sure is. Something about the sound of the water trickling downstream. The water pools up here and warms up under the sunshine too.”

There was feeling that they could have spent all day there, just feet in the water, eyes closed, taking it all in. The last bits of turmoil between the two drifted off down the creek. All that was left was peace.

Tobin started to push the boat along though, knowing the folks back at camp would be expecting them soon. They both hopped back in the canoe and continued on their way. The paddled up the rest of the creek until they popped out back into the lake whose shores Camp Coldwood called home.

“Do you know why they call this Grace Lake?” asked Christen. She was asking, because she knew, and wanted to see is Tobin did too.

“No. Never really thought about it. Cause it gives off a feeling of grace?”

Christen laughed. “Nah, I mean it does do that. But it is also named after a person.”

“Guessing her name was Grace?”

“Yup. Her and her husband started the first hiking club for the mountains around here. It was her idea. She just loved the place, and wanted others to see its beauty too. Their hiking club also promoted, and still does, environmental preservation of the area.”

“That’s amazing. That must have been like a hundred years ago right?”

“Yeah, just about. Even though women weren’t respected a lot back then, she didn’t care. She went up to politicians and told them what she thought, and eventually it paid off. She convinced people this whole mountain range was worth protecting.”

Out on the lake, Tobin’s efforts in her paddling were invigorated. It was the idea that someone else at camp might see her now, and she couldn’t let them see her slacking off of from her legendary pace. Christen did her best to match it, though it ached in her arms. This must be why Tobin had such toned arms, she thought. Doing this everyday would surely sculpt them fast. They were soaring through the water, cutting it like a knife as they sped across the open water.

“Woo!” Tobin yelled, clearly enjoying herself. She raised her paddle up with two hands and gave it an up and down shake when she could see someone wander into view at the boat docks. Christen gave a little whoop too. Once again, Tobin expertly steered the boat into its unloading position. Using their speed, she jammed the paddle down into a rudder position, and it turned the canoe in perfectly parallel to the dock. Before the person on shore could even make it the boat, Tobin jumped out smoothly. She walked over to the back end of the canoe, and offered a hand, which Christen gracefully accepted to help her out of the boat.

The person waiting for them was Kelley. She was not oblivious to how kindly Tobin was treating Christen. Tobin would hold the boat at times for her, always with her feet or at her own end of the canoe, but never ever had actually offered a hand. She didn’t know what that was about. Was Tobin being extra nice to try and show her and Christen could get along? Kelley ultimately settled on a safe comment. “You guys had some wicked speed out there,” she said.

“We spent all evening practicing,” Christen said sarcastically.

“Yeah, that way we can make our escape faster when we can’t stand this place anymore.”

“I hate you guys,” said Kelley, pretending she wasn’t amused by their joking quips.

“You guys good?” continued Kelley.

“Yeah, we good,” said Tobin, “Christen’s real cool. I think we’ll be able to behave.”

“Yup,” Christen agreed, “We both apologized for being nasty to each other, and are ready to move on. Only good behavior from both of us for now on.”

Kelley wiped fake sweat off her forehead. “Phew,” she said, “Foudy will be happy about that.”

The next few days proceeded as normal. There were no big fights, and really they were just taking care of the last few little things that needed to be done before the first campers arrived. The other staff wanted to know how their night went, of course, and Tobin just told them exactly what happened. Her and Christen didn’t really talk for the first bit, but then they just started chatting fireside. That campfire magic, Tobin like to call it. Everything worked out, and now they were good. Tobin didn’t mention the whole sleeping bag thing though. Ashlyn and Pinoe didn’t need to know that. All they would do is tease her about it, and those two certainly didn’t need additional ammunition to do that.

The night before the campers arrived, there was excitement in the air. Kelley handed out official matching camp shirts for everyone to wear the next day. They were forest green polos, with the camp logo on the left breast. Christen wanted to make sure she was well rested for the big day, so she headed to her tent a little earlier than usual. Everyone had moved to the unit they would be staying in all summer, so AD had brought her stuff over to Gaia. Not wanting to leave Tobin alone, Lindsey had moved herself over to the next tent over. That left Christen and Becky who remained put, and Abby moved her stuff in to their tent.

Just as Christen was about to change for bed, she heard Sonnet at the front of the tent.

“There you are! Come on!”

“What? What’s going on?” asked Christen.

“We’re going skinny dipping!”

“Oh my goodness. That’s absurd.”

“No it isn’t! We do it every year. It’s like, a tradition.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, come on. Hurry up!”

Christen put down the toothbrush she had in her hand, and headed for the front of the tent. Sonnet eagerly started off towards the beach. Christen wondered why no one had told of her this tradition yet, and questioned if it was actually just a prank they pull on new staff. It wouldn’t surprise her if that’s what they were doing.

To her surprise, a good portion of the staff were at the beach. Thankfully someone had started a large fire there. Christen figured she would be glad for it when she got out of the water. She still couldn’t really believe she was about to go skinny dipping.

“Have you ever been?” asked Kelley.

“No.”

“Have you ever wanted to?”

“I mean... actually kind of yes?”

“Sweet.”

It was already as dark as it would get, but by the light of the fire Christen could see that some people had already stripped their clothes off, and only had their towels wrapped around their bodies. They didn’t seem phased at all. It almost seemed like they did this all the time, and by the conversation she overheard from Ashlyn, it seemed like perhaps some of them did do it all the time.

One of the lifeguards, Casey, decided to take charge. “Okay, let’s get this moving. We’ll keep track of everyone with a count off.” She then gave everyone a number. She explained that when they were in the water, and a count off was called, everyone said their numbers in order.

The group made their way out to the swimming docks. Away from the fire, you couldn’t see much more than dark shapes. The moon was just about half full, but its light reflecting off the water helped a lot to see where the lake began and the docks ended. Christen heard the soft thunk of a few towels dropping to the wooden platform, followed by a splash and then the laughter of Krieger. “First one in!” she shouted, proud of her feat.

Not one to be outdone, Tobin could be heard yelling “Woo hoo!” followed by a splash that was definitely from a cannon ball.

Christen didn’t want to stand around waiting, and was actually quite full of anticipation. Some of it was from a bit of nervousness, because hell, you are naked, but it all just made her want to get in the water and see what it was like. So she jumped in too, making her the third one in.

“I did it!” she shouted after resurfacing from her jump.

“Woo hoo! That’s the spirit, Christen!” she could hear someone from the docks say.

Everyone else jumped in pretty quickly too, except for Sam and Morgan. Sam kept dipping her toe in to ‘feel it first.’

“Come on!” Tobin said to Morgan, “You are a LIFEGUARD. You can’t be afraid to jump in!”

“I’m not afraid! I’m hesitant. Plus its pitch black out there! Totally different from swimming in the day!”

Eventually Sam and Morgan decided they would link arms and jump in together. It worked, and then everyone who wanted to be in, was. Tobin loved hearing all the laughter and splashing. People enjoying the water always made her happy. She leaned her head back, and let herself float on her back. She closed her eyes, and let the water muffle all the sounds around her. This was where she found peace of mind. With each breath she could feel herself lift out of the water just a little bit more as she became a little more buoyant every time she inhaled. Doing this, night or day, clothed or not, it always made her feel so relaxed.

Tobin thought about how swimming naked had a very primal and freeing feeling to it. It shouldn’t be all the different than normal swimming. Most bathing suits didn’t really cover much anyway. Still though, the feeling of water uniform across your entire body was unique, and Tobin would swore it made her feel more connected to the lake than almost any other time. Granted, she had yet to attempt Godiva canoeing.

Tobin opened her eyes, and was greeted with a sky full of stars filling her vision. Some were bright and outshone the others, while others were dim but twinkled nevertheless. The faded white hue that made up the Milky Way could be seen too. Everywhere she looked in the sky, it seemed like there more tiny stars than before. Every time she did this, it reminded her of why the phrase ‘more stars than you can count’ existed.

Tobin then swam out to the diving platform at the end of the third section. She climbed up the ladder, and stood upon the deck, looking out over her waterfront like a Queen over her Kingdom. The moon was behind her, and the reflection of the water illuminated the bobbing heads enough that she could make out their faces. Christen was one of those faces, and though all she could see was Tobin’s silhouette, it was obvious it was her who was standing on the far dock. Her feet were apart, and hands on her hips. Only she could stand like superman and not look cheesy for it. Hey, maybe that’s why Kelley calls her their camp hero.

Christen started to swim towards the dock too, and caught Tobin’s attention. The Californian woman’s pointed chin just barely grazed along the water’s surface as she approached with a modified breaststroke. Her neck and collar bone were illuminated by the pale light, and Tobin, knowing no one could see her gaze, allowed her eyes to linger. For a moment, she imagined her lips brushing against the features.

Tobin caught herself though. She remembered why she had climbed up onto the dock. It was so she could jump back in. Once you got the first jump into the water done, jumping in over and over again was the best part of swimming in Tobin’s opinion. She gave herself a few steps to get some speed with, and then launched herself up into the air so she could splash into the water feet first. To Tobin, those few moment under water right after a jump, when all you can hear is the bubbles around you racing to the surface, was one of the coolest things to experience. Yeah, it was really simple, but enjoying the simple things in life was kind of Tobin’s thing. Just because something is common, doesn’t mean it isn’t special.

Christen had climbed up onto the dock too, intending to get some jumps in. By the time she was ready to go, Tobin was hanging off the top of the ladder. Man, was she a fast swimmer. Christen folded one hand over the other, brought both out in front of her, and then dove into water before her. It brought her down below the thermocline in the lake, were the temperature suddenly shifted colder. It was refreshing in a way though. It also made Christen realize that though she initially thought the skinny dipping would be cold, it really wasn’t. It takes a lot of energy to change the temperature of water, so while the lake was generally colder than the air temperature during day, it actually was warmer than night air. Well, at least as long as you stayed in the upper thermocline, which was pretty easy to do.

As Christen surfaced, she found Tobin waiting up on the dock again to make another jump in. She could still only make out a silhouette, which she was thankful for because that meant that’s all anyone else could see when she was standing up there as well. Tobin had a figure that emulated power. Broad, muscled shoulders, and her torso tapered down narrower to her hips. Christen wondered what Tobin’s abs would look like if she could see them now. She then laughed in her head when she realized to where her mind had drifted. By this point, a few other people were swimming out to the dock now too to get some dives in. Christen quickened the pace of her stroke so that she could get in one more jump before she would have to wait behind the others.

As it would turn out, Lindsey just wanted to sit on the dock, and that’s what she did. She had her knees folded up in front of her, and sat facing out towards the lake, admiring the moon. The others who did come out did do lots of jumps though. They ended up having a belly flopping contest, judged by sound, which Sonnet won.

After a while, Casey blew her whistle, which being draped around her neck, was the only thing anyone in the lake was wearing. She called for everyone to do a count off and then they all headed towards the docks to get out. Someone asked why Casey was running the show tonight if Tobin was her boss, and also present. It was explained that if Tobin was in charge of ‘night swimming’ as they called it, she would let everyone stay out until the sun rose.

“Yup.” Tobin said, not denying it.

Everyone started making their way to the ladders on the docks, some slower than others trying to stretch out their nocturnal dip. A few were eager to get out of the water too though.

“Hurry up!” complained Sonnet. Allie, Sam, and Julie were all in front of her at the ladder.

“You should have swam faster!” responded Julie.

“But I really have to pee!”

“Oh just swim over a few feet and do it over there,” said Allie.

“Allie!” said Sam, “Don’t tell her that!”

“What? It’s not like everyone hasn’t done it at some point.”

“I’ve had enough,” said Sonnet. She promptly started to pull herself up on to the dock without a ladder. “I don’t want to pee in the lake. It is home for the fishies.” She got one arm up onto the dock, and then was able to pull her torso out of the water and fling a leg up. From there she just kind of rolled the rest of her body up. It was clumsy, but it worked. Unfortunately, Sonnet rolled right onto a few of the towels people had left, leaving them soaked with lake water. Sonnet ran off towards the latrine, not even grabbing her own towel as Ashlyn hurled insults.

“SONNET, YOU DRENCHED HALF OUR TOWELS!!!” she yelled towards the naked sprinting woman.

When Christen got out of the water, she found her towel was one of the victims of Sonnet’s escape to the bathroom.

Carli offered to go get some extra towels from the infirmary, however it would still be a few minutes, and the night air was chilly, especially with the water evaporating off people’s skin. Ashlyn’s towel had also been soaked, but Krieger could be heard offering to let her use her own towel.

Tobin figured Christen could use a friend like that too. There was a sound of a whipping towel against skin, and Ashlyn laughing.

“Hey, that’s not what I gave that to you for!” protested Ali.

Yeah, Tobin knew Ali and Ashlyn were more than just friends. She still figured Christen wouldn’t want to be left dripping wet and cold though. No one else had offered to share their towel with her as of yet.

“Christen?” Tobin said, not knowing which silhouette was the Californian’s.

“Yeah? Tobin, is that you?” was the reply.

“Yup.” Tobin made her way to the dark human shape she now had identified as Christen.

“Hey,” she said, “You want to share a towel? Until Carli gets back?”

"Oh my god, yes. Thank you.” Christen said as she reached out towards the cloth Tobin was handing her way. Christen took one end ever so gently and draped it across her back. The other end was still in Tobin’s hand. Tobin realized, Christen had taken the ‘share’ part of her offer literally. Tobin copied Christen, and put her half of the towel around her back as well. There were standing shoulder to shoulder, the one towel draped across both their backs and shoulders.

Tobin started to sit down on the dock, and Christen followed without any complaint. They both sat with their knees up, legs pulled in close, clutching their respective ends of Tobin’s towel. Tobin’s right side, and Christen’s left, were very much in contact though, from shoulder, down the arms, knees, and even their feet. It was the best way to get the most of the two of them wrapped into warmth.

Like when they shared the tent on their private overnight, Tobin felt electricity from where her body touched Christen. She didn’t mean for it to happen again, but here she was. Tobin wondered what the woman’s reaction would be if she let her own arm move over a few inches and touch her shin. Would she be mad? Surprised? Glad for it? Uncaring? Tobin didn’t know and she didn’t dare to test and see.

Christen pulled her hair out from under the towel and laid it onto her right shoulder. She didn’t so much feel electricity as much as she felt warmth and comfort. Tobin was a kind soul, she could see that now. She was the only one who had offered to share her dry towel. Not even Kelley, her best friend, had been so thoughtful or selfless in the moment. The warmth seemed to radiate off of Tobin, both actually and in spirit. Christen wanted just a bit more though. She leaned her head over and rested it on Tobin’s shoulder. She could feel the Tobin freeze up for a moment, even a bit tense, but it subsided after a moment and her body relaxed again.

Tobin now was considering her earlier thought again. Clearly Christen enjoyed the physical contact Tobin was offering more than Tobin would have ever guessed. She let her fingers dance freely in the air, flexing them out, before quietly slipping them over to Christen’s lower leg. She gave it a few rubs up and down, before resting it in the middle, her thumb on the thickest part of Christen’s calf. Christen did not flinch or recoil in the slightest. She clearly did not mind.

The two woman did not say a word to each other. There was a mutual understanding that they were both just staring out at the beautiful night, enjoying the moment. The water became still without people splashing around, and reflected a near perfect picture of the moon and clouds around it. Christen would have even sworn that you could see the reflections of some of the stars too.

Tobin turned towards Christen, almost as if she was going to say something, and Christen mirrored that. She lifted her head from Tobin’s shoulder so she could look at the other woman. In the dark of the night, neither could really see each other all that well, but being so close, the topography of their faces was still discernable. Tobin didn’t know if she simply never had something to say, or had forgotten it by the she met Christen’s gaze. She couldn’t visually be sure if the other woman was staring back at her, but something about the feel of the air made her sure of it.

Christen was staring at Tobin’s lips. She wanted them on her own. The thought was absurd. Half of her wanted Tobin to lean in and kiss her, and the other half wanted to reach up and plant one herself. She was frozen though, waiting for Tobin to do something, anything. She wondered is Tobin felt remotely the same.

Time expired for them. Carli was back. She was at the edge on the dock, where it met shore.

“Christen!” she shouted, waving what could only be one of the towels she fetched.

Christen slipped out from beneath Tobin’s towel, and grabbed her own which was still soaked through. She gave Tobin a thanks as she went down to the other end of the dock and grabbed the towel Carli had. She wrapped it around herself and headed to join the others at the fire. By some miracle, no one seemed to have taken note of her extended time with Tobin on the dock. Tobin herself lingered on the dock, still sitting, towel draped across her back.

She was processing everything that happened the last couple days. Everything that had just happened in the last 10 minutes especially.

“Fuck,” she whispered to herself, coming to a realization.

There was a decision that would need to be made by her. She might not have the answer in the next few minutes, or maybe even next few days, but it was seemingly inevitable that she would need to make it in the near future. Her fingers were restless, rubbing her palms and interlacing with each other as Tobin’s thoughts raced through a variety of perspectives to consider on the matter

Tobin hated to be indecisive. It was why the whole ‘what do you want to do with your life’ question was so frustrating to her. But like that, she knew she couldn’t be rash about this matter either. Yeah. She would give it a few days and let everything settle out more.

Having settled her thoughts for now, Tobin made her way to the fire too. She saw an open spot next to Julie and Lindsey, so she plopped herself there. It was at about 3 O’Clock from Christen, which was good. The way her blood was pumping right now, she wanted to avoid sitting directly across from Christen. Having to look at her across the fire for the rest of the evening would have would have been an exercise in self-punishment. As well, sitting next to her would have tempted the possibility of Tobin doing something she might regret. Just as tortuous. The seat Tobin took avoided both of these. Instead, Christen spent the rest of the evening quietly in the corner of Tobin’s eye and in the back of her mind. 


	6. Cgapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The campers arrive at Camp Coldwood!

Christen did not know what to think of Tobin at the fire. She couldn’t tell if Tobin had read their interactions the way Christen had been, and was avoiding her, or simply had seen them as platonic and just kind gestures between two humans. Christen caught Tobin looking out the corner of her eye towards her a couple times, but every time Christen went to meet her gaze, Tobin looked away, pretending she hadn’t been just looking her way. Christen decided to not think too much about it. Perhaps resting her head on Tobin’s shoulder was a little too much, and that’s all there was to it. She endeavored to laugh, and to learn camp songs this last night before campers arrived at Camp Coldwood.

_Oh if you've been thinking you’re all that you've got_

_Well don't feel alone anymore_

_Cause when we're together then you've got a lot_

_For I am the river and you are the shore_

The song was sang with a quick beat and had a rowdy air to it. Christen imagined it could be a good drinking song.

After a few more songs the group splintered off into their units and wandered back to their beds.

The next morning was calm, but the forthcoming excitement was palpable at breakfast as Foudy handed out the assignments to all the counselors. Christen got a group of 10-12 year olds. Becky told her that was good because they were the easiest age. The 7-9 year olds were terribly slow at getting ready to go anywhere and had the most cases of homesickness. Once you started to get up to the older end of the spectrum, 14 and 15 year olds, there was always drama and sometimes that teenage rebellious spirit.

Christen dutiful looked through the information she had on her campers. She noted the names, trying to commit them to memory. There was a Tierna, Mallory, a Rose, and five others too. They had each filled out a page about themselves. Rose mainly wrote about her dog, a bulldog named Wilma Jean Wrinkles. Each of the eight children had something cute to say about themselves. Christen really liked that the registration process included having the kids write a little about who they were. In their paperwork she also got information on if any of them had any medications, dietary restrictions, or allergies.

Not long after Christen finished reading about her first group of campers, Foudy called them all outside to greet the kids they arrived. Cars started pulling in and parents dropped of their kids. Some children seemed eager to ditch their moms and dads and ran off to join the field games instantaneously. Others though were shyer, and had to be given encouragement. Christen remembered being like one of those campers the first time she arrived when she was a little kid.

Within the hour, Christen had met all the campers she would be in charge of for the week. Tierna was quiet, but seemed to be enjoying the field games a lot. Mallory was loud, and eagerly posed while flashing a smile when Kelley came over to take some pictures for the camp’s social media. Rose was the oldest of the group, but was somehow the smallest too. She had been to camp before, and proudly told all the other kids what things she had done in past years.

Christen had a schedule of where she was to take the kids once they all met each other. There were certain things all campers had to do on the first day, such as a trip to the nurse’s office and getting a swim test. First on Christen’s list was to bring her kids to the nurses so they could be checked for lice. At the infirmary, Mallory proudly proclaimed that she wanted to be a nurse too when she grew up.

“I can work here!” she said, “That would be perfect!”

Carli commented back, “Well, you’ll have to get rid of ME first!”

All the kids cleared at the nurse’s office, so they could proceed to the next stop, which was unpacking all their stuff at Rosebud. Kelley and Alex had already moved all the baggage from the main camp to the unit with the camp van earlier, so it was in a pile, and the kids just had to grab their own stuff and put it in a tent. Christen had made up tent assignments between two tents, and the kids quickly got to work setting up their spaces.

When the campers were set up, the group gathered around the fire circle to start planning what they wanted to do this week. This group of kids seemed to want to do a little bit of everything, from arts and crafts to looking for minnows in the creek.

The last thing on Christen’s list was to bring to the kids to the waterfront so they could take swim and canoe tests. The group in front of them was the youngest kids. They were taking a little longer than usual, so after changing into their suits, Christen’s campers started making sand castles in the beach sand while they waited. Christen watched as Tobin was talking to a little girl who seemed afraid to get into the canoe. She gently encouraged the girl and helped her to put her feet into the boat and start to get in. The girl froze though, and quickly retracted back up onto the dock. She and Tobin were talking again. Christen wished she could hear what they were saying, as the girl wildly flayed her arms in an up and down motion. Tobin nodded her head and then gently picked up the young girl from under the arms and placed her onto the back seat of the canoe. The little girl seemed happy to have gotten into the boat, even if it was with help.

Morgan, one of the other lifeguards, pushed the boat out away from the dock. The kids rocked a bunch trying to get the boat to tip over. The test was to make sure they knew what to do in case their boat did actually flip over while paddling. The kids were so small though, they weren’t rocking hard enough to flip over. They were having a grand ole time laughing as they tried to though.

“You gotta lean over more! Try rocking together!” Tobin shouted to the kids.

After a little more encouragement, they did flip their boat over. They all remembered to check that each other were ok and to stick with their boat. Casey, who was out in the water, helped the kids push their boat back to the dock where Tobin could reset it for the next bunch.

After the younger kids were done, Tobin came over and explained to Christen’s group all the rules of the beach. This was one of a few places on camp where you could wear sandals. She also explained that when you went in the water, you had to put a tag with your name on it on the swim board in the appropriate section. That way, the adults could know who was supposed to be in the water. It was also very important that they remember to take their tag off when they left, even if it they only got out of the water for a few minutes to grab a toy or float noodle.

After that, the kids went out on the dock with the lifeguards to do their swim tests. Christen could see Tobin holding her hand above her brow, shielding the sun so she could see better. Still though, she seemed to be squinting. Christen reached into her backpack and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. She walked out on the dock, holding them.

“Here,” she said to Tobin. “I thought these might help you out.”

Tobin allowed herself to take her eyes off the swimmers for a moment. Casey and Morgan were there anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. She gave Christen a big smile taking the sunglasses.

“Thanks,” Tobin said, “I really should have remembered to grab my own. They’re back in my tent.” She gestured to the glasses she had just put on, “I’ll be sure to return these to you later.”

“It’s really no problem,” said Christen, “Don’t worry about it.” Christen then sat down, legs crisscrossed, on the dock. Tobin turned her attention back to the swimmers.

“You know,” said Tobin, “If you want, you can go for a swim too. It’s hot out, god knows I want to jump in.”

Christen thought for a moment, “No, I think I’m good.”

Tobin was a bit disappointed Christen didn’t take up the offer, but that disappointment vanished at Christen’s next words.

“Besides,” Christen added, “here on the dock, I can talk to you.”

It made Tobin’s heart flutter for just a moment.

“I finished my front stroke!” yelled one of the kids from the swim section.

“Ok, now do one lap on your back now too,” Tobin told the child.

Christen continued talking. “You are really good with the kids, you know that? I saw you with that girl who was afraid to get in the canoe.”

“Well, I try to be. That girl, she was funny though. She wasn’t afraid of being in the boat, or even tipping it over, just getting in it. She kept closing her eyes. I was like ‘You need to be able to see what you’re doing!’ We ended up deciding she could close her eyes while I just put her in.”

Christen laughed, “Oh my god, these kids are great, aren’t they?”

“How is your group so far? Doing good?”

“Yeah I think so. They want to do a lot. We are gonna have a busy week.”

“That’s good though. Let me know if they want to do any boating. I’ll put you guys on our schedule somewhere.”

“Oh yes, they definitely want to so some canoeing. I think it might be good for them to practice before the overnight trip.”

“We can do that,” said Tobin.

Whatever awkwardness funk Tobin had been in at last night’s fire had passed. Here, lifeguarding on the docks, she was in her element. For her, it was easy to talk about camp stuff.

“You can really tell you love this,” Christen said, “Look at you, you’re all smiles.”

Tobin might have blushed a little. “Yeah, I do love this. If I could do this all year long, I would.”

There was a brief pause, before Tobin asked, “If you could do anything for a job, what would you do?”

“Well, I’m going to school for business,” Christen said, “Ideally, I would like to start my own company someday. Have my own boutique or a restaurant or something. That’s the dream.”

“Sweet,” said Tobin, “I think you would be good at that.”

All the kids had finished up their laps, and Tobin then instructed them to flip their tags and get into section 3. There, they showed that they could tread water, and then did the test with a canoe where you tipped it over. All of Christen’s campers passed as section three swimmers and also for using the canoes.

The next day was first full day of summer camp. From wake up to lights out, campers were the priority. There were a couple things Christen had to adjust to, but she quickly did. For instance, in the morning you would think it would be pretty easy to wake the kids up and tell them to get ready, but they really needed reminders every 10 minutes that they were supposed to be putting their shoes on. Christen found that out when they were meant to be leaving for breakfast, but half her kids were huddled in their tent, half-dressed, playing cards instead.

In the morning, Christen took the kids on hike around a lake. She had a ring of laminated cards that she used to identify different plants and trees, and pointed them out to the campers. They also took a stop at the arts and crafts building so they could all start friendship bracelets. Christen grabbed some string too. She figured she could make Kelley one.

For the first half of the afternoon, they were scheduled for swim time with the rest of Rosebud. The kids were very much looking forward to this and said they wanted time at the beach every day. Christen had no problem with that. At the beach, there were always other staff around, so you knew weren’t alone in trying to keep track of all your campers. 

When they got there, Tobin came up to Christen. “Hey Christen,” Tobin said, “Could you do some lifeguarding this block? Both Casey and Morgan were doing boating with the older kids this morning and I want to give them a bit of a break.”

“Yeah sure... this will be my first time actually lifeguarding though.”

“Don’t worry about it. You passed the examination so you’re gonna be great.” Tobin paused for a moment before adding, “I’ll be out there with you too. You can watch sections 1 and 2, where the kids can stand up and I’ll watch section 3. Sound good?”

“Yes, that sounds good.” Christen said with a smile. She was relieved she wasn’t being thrown to the deep end, literally.

Lifeguarding turned out to be quite easy. The kids just splashed around or played Marco Polo. It was kind of amazing how much energy they all had. After the first ten or so minutes, Christen wandered to the far end of section 2, where the middle part of the H dock was. She kept herself angled towards the first two section though. Tobin wandered over close enough that they could talk comfortably too. It was a bit weird having a conversation not looking at someone, but it was better than the boredom of just standing there, lifeguard tube in hand, watching kids play the same game over and over for a half hour straight.

If you had asked Tobin what they had talked about, she probably wouldn’t been able to remember. They talked about nothing really in particular. Christen noted that a dragonfly landed on her arm at one point. Tobin laughed after overhearing two kids debate whether mermaids peed in the ocean or not, and then told Christen about it too.

After swim time, the Rosebud unit got out, dried off, and all the groups went their separate ways to a different activity. Tobin thought she remember Christen telling her they were doing team building activities with Alex, as a precursor to low ropes. The Gaia unit had their swim block after, so Tobin got ready for that as the unit wandered into the beach. Tobin put Casey and Morgan back on lifeguard duty and got Sonnet to rotate in with them too.

Tobin laid out on the sandy beach. It was the first time all day she had a chance to sit down and take a few minutes as a breather. She brought her feet closer to her body, leaving her knees pointing up to sky. Arms were crossed behind her head, and sunglasses let her gaze at the puffy white clouds in front of a blue background. The first full day of camp was always hectic, but she felt pretty good about it. It might have just been the moment itself, under the sun, but it was sure good hearing the laughter of all the kids around.

Just as Tobin was really getting into her relaxed state, a kid came up and started poking her cheek with a stick.

“Hey watch it,” she said politely, “We don’t want to put sticks anywhere near people’s faces. Especially their eyes.”

“Sorry!” the kid quipped. Tobin silently thanked herself for remembering her sunglasses that day.

“Are you okay?” the little voice asked, when Tobin sat up.

“Yup. I am fine.”

“Then why do you look so tired. You were SLEEPING!”

“I WAS not sleeping. Just resting my eyes.”

“My dad says that when he’s watching TV. But I know he really is sleeping cause I hear him snoring too.”

Tobin couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh yeah? Did you hear me snoring too?”

“Well... no. So I guess maybe you weren’t sleeping.”

“Yeah you would know if I was sleeping. My girlfriend tells me I snore really, really loud.” It wasn’t true. Actually, Tobin didn’t know if she snored or not. No one had told her if she did. But it was fun to see what type of reaction kids had to stuff you said.

“Ew!” the kid said. Tobin for a moment thought it was at the ‘girlfriend’ word. Most these kids were too young to have any prejudice, but you never really knew what type of environment they were growing up in. As it would turns out, the kid didn’t really care about Tobin’s mentioning of a girlfriend though.

“Snoring is gross!”

“What?” Tobin said, “What’s so gross about snoring?”

The kid thought for a little bit, then said, “You drool all over! That’s gross!”

“Well, okay. I think that’s fair.”

The kid suddenly forgot about the whole snoring conversation and asked Tobin to build a sandcastle with her and a few other kids. Tobin happily obliged. She considered herself a master sand castle maker.

They made a giant castle with four towers and moat full of water around it. Tobin even carved stairs into the sides of the towers and showed the kids how they could use mud to make an arch. While Tobin worked on the sandcastle with the kids though, her mid kept going back to how she had mentioned her girlfriend a few minutes ago. Yeah, Shirley was back in Colorado still. Tobin wasn’t even sure of what she did in the summers when all the ski places were closed. Probably just smoked weed next to her parents’ pool. Was it bad she didn’t even know for sure? Was it also bad this was the most she’s thought about Shirley in several days? God, she should call her at the bare minimum. Tobin honestly didn’t want to. She had tried to get Shirley to come out here for the summer and work at Coldwood too, but she refused. Tobin was in camp mode, and that’s all she really cared about right now.

Then there was this whole Christen thing too. The girl had made it clear she was interested in her. Or at least it had seemed that way from Tobin’s perspective. Tobin thought, it was just a head resting on a shoulder after all. That could be pretty platonic, especially because it was late at night. She could have been tired. On the other side though, they had just gone swimming in the middle of the night. That tended to keep one alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic, so to speak. Tobin thought she maybe, just maybe was seeing things that weren’t there because, hell, Christen was hot.

In the end Tobin decided she was still unsure of what game, if any, Christen was playing at, and more important, how she felt too. Yeah, she hadn’t been close to Shirley since moving back to New York for the summer, but that could just be because the phone service sucked. You had to use the landline to actually get a call out. Plus, like Tobin said to herself earlier, she was in camp mode. And jeez, less than week ago, Tobin and Christen had an all-out screaming match. Sure, they seemed like friends now, but it hardly seemed worth ditching Shirlz for something that could be so volatile. And cheating was a big no-no for Tobin. She didn’t understand how a person could do that to someone. If she ever did decide to start something with anyone, Christen or otherwise, she’d have to end things first with Shirley.

“Tobin,” shouted one of the kids she was playing with. “You gotta be the sea monster, and we’ll protect the castle!” It snapped Tobin out of her head and back to reality.

Tobin used her fingers to imitate a creature crawling up the steps to the front on the castle. As her hand crossed the bridge over the moat (a piece of tree bark) one of the kids had their toy lizard meet it and they began ‘fighting’.

“Attack crocodile!” the little girl yelled.

Yeah, Tobin thought, this was the good life. She could just it enjoy it, each moment, and wait to see how everything played out. Because at this moment, she really couldn’t care less about all that adult stuff. She had an attack crocodile to worry about, and probably an attack pony, and some squirt guns to deal with too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this being a few days late. Still not quite 100% happy with this chapter, but it's the best I can do.
> 
> Also, I know close to nothing about the ~real~ Shirley other than that she ~allegedly~ was involved at some point, so don't take my characterization any amount of seriously. I'm literally just borrowing a name. 
> 
> Thank you to all who comment. Even a "thanks for the update" means so much to me. I plan on dragging this out a bit (not too long, I promise x) but I appreciate your patience. I know this wasn't a SUPER exciting chapter. Also HUGE thanks to those that even kudos or bookmark. I see you.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a lot of hanging out and playing with the camp kids.

At campfire at the end of the first full day, Tobin let Christen know she could fit in canoeing for her group first thing the following day. As it would turn out, it wasn’t a bright sunny day like that before, but a drizzly overcast one. As long as there was no thunder or lightning, there really wasn’t any reason to not continue as planned though. Most the kids didn’t seem to care either.

“We’ll probably get wet from the paddles splashing anyway,” one said.

Tobin thought, if they were paddling correctly they shouldn’t be doing a lot of splashing. She remembered though that these were kids, and they would probably splash each other on purpose just for the fun of it.

Christen had the kids put on their bathing suits before boating anyway. Next block was swim time, so they might as well not risk anyone dumping over and soaking a pair clothes. Tobin and Casey brought the kids over to the boat house to get life-jackets and paddles. The waterfront director put on a life-jacket and proudly modeled as Casey showed the campers how to tighten the straps, and also how the lifeguards would test if the jackets were on tight enough by pulling up on the shoulders. Tobin smiled as she spun around and pointed out the buckles, and made sure there was no twists in the straps on her jacket. Christen couldn’t help but smile when Tobin made a joke about wearing a lifejacket “to look good for the fish.” It was inspiring to see how much Tobin really enjoyed her job. She could have sworn Tobin almost looked at her when she said ‘look good for the fish’ but she wasn’t sure. Even though Christen wasn’t sure and quickly forgot about it, Tobin certainly didn’t. It was a joke she made all the time. Why did it feel so different this time, like she was a teeny tiny bit embarrassed? She found herself _almost_ looking at Christen when she said the joke, but had sent her gaze a different way when she realized the direction her eyes were headed. The round white rescue tube, on the opposite side of the boat house, provided a perfectly suitable place to look at.

After a few minutes, most the kids had their lifejackets on, and Casey was helping the last one.

“Tobin,” Casey said, “One of Christen’s straps is all twisted in the back. Can you help her?”

Tobin looked at Casey, and then at Christen, made eye contact, and looked back at Casey.

“Sure,” she said as she hopped up from the stool she was sitting on.

Christen turned around so her back was towards Tobin. Yeah, Tobin, thought, looking at the white buckle strap, that’s definitely twisted. It was folded over a couple times, really tightly, right at the center of Christen’s back. No wonder she hadn’t caught it herself. A few twists in the straps weren’t really a bad thing, and you certainly could use the lifejackets that way, but it was Tobin’s opinion that it was best to practice good habits.

Tobin gently grabbed Christen’s shoulder to spin her back around front facing.

“I’m gonna have to unbuckle it,” she said as she reached for the strap.

Tobin unclipped the connector and wove it back through the loops on the jacket until she got to where it was twisted. She was head down, focusing on what she was doing. So close to her, right in front of her, Christen couldn’t help but notice the piney smell of Tobin’s hair. She wondered if it was from whatever shampoo Tobin used, or simply a side effect of the environment they were in. Tobin untwisted and smoothed the strap. As she held the strap out, pulling it straight, she couldn’t help but look up at Christen’s eyes. It would have been a little bit weird if she didn’t look at her in the eyes the entire time she assisted. In both the previous, close moments they had, it was night and dark out. Tobin hadn’t noticed the color of Christen’s eyes. They were a gorgeous green, like a soft patch of moss on an old stone. You could get lost in them, trying to figure out all the stories they had.

Tobin swallowed. She looked back down to the strap and strung it back through the loops, where she then re-buckled it to its partner on the other side.

“Thanks,” said Christen flashing a toothy smile. She had definitely noticed the way Tobin had sort of paused there, frozen for a half second, looking into her eyes. Whether she was conscious of it or not, Tobin had bit her lower lip just a bit while doing it. It was sexy as hell, Christen thought. She had a bit of an ego boost, knowing she could do that to someone.

“No problem,” was all Tobin had to say. Tobin then grabbed the shoulder pads of Christen’s life jacket, and gave a big yank. Having forgot about the test, it surprised Christen. She jolted her forward a bit too, but that was point. Tobin could feel the warmth of Christen’s breath on her when the woman lurched forward. Christen then stepped back though, as expected.

“It’s on tight enough,” Tobin said with a smirk. She knew she had caught Christen off guard, and found it a bit funny.

Casey’s kid was being uncooperative, so it took a little longer for her to get that kid’s life-jacket situation sorted out. After a few minutes though, they were headed down to the boating docks. Tobin instructed the kids how to work together to take down the aluminum canoes from the boating racks and carry them over to the water. They only needed a little help with the actual lifting, and before long, everyone was out on the lake paddling away.

Tobin and Casey were in one canoe, and they attempted to show the kids the different strokes you could use to better control their boats. Half the kids really didn’t have even the regular stroke down yet, so Tobin ended up having them just practice that. Rose and Tierna seemed to have been paddling before, and were eagerly trying out the new movements they had learned. Mallory really liked the wide backstroke and was using it to turn her boat in a circle, almost like how a hand moves around a clock face.

Christen was in the back of a canoe too, with one kid in front, Ashley. She had told Christen prior to getting in the boat that she had never been canoeing before. It was nice to be the one who could steer, Christen thought. The girl in the boat with her needed some practice, but even as they went further up the lake, she seemed to improve a lot.

Out by Evenfire bay, the kids lost interest in practicing their strokes, and instead wanted to join the boats together to form one ‘mega-canoe.’ It took some fanangling, and a couple tries, but the kids did manage to get the several canoes all next to each other, side by side. Christen doubted there was much the adults could have done to prevent it. These kids were very determined.

“Counselors on the outside!” one of the kids shouted, as the finalized the arrangement.

“That way they can paddle us around!” another added.

“Hey!” Christen said, faking that she was upset by this development.

One of the younger ones in the group started to attempt to stand up, and step over to the boat next to them. If it wasn’t for the kids in the boats either side holding their canoe, it likely would have tipped over.

“HEY!” Christen said again, this time sternly, “We do not stand up in canoes! They can tip over very easily if you aren’t careful.”

From across the armada, Tobin sent Christen a raised set of eyebrows and a smile, clearly meant to remind her of her own incident at the staff overnight the week before. Christen tried not to smile as she shook her head, but did a little anyways.

The kids then demanded the counselors paddle the collection of canoes.

“You ready?” Christen yelled across the boats to Tobin. They were both in the back seats of their respective canoes, so they would need to paddle together.

“Yup!” Tobin called back.

Christen started counting, “1...2...3... 1...2...3...” and they took a stroke on each number. It actually worked pretty well.

Ashley, who was the kid in the front of Christen’s boat, wanted to get in on the action too, so she started yelling for Casey for follow her too. The poor kid though, their strokes were little more than dipping the paddle into to water, and her calling of numbers was inconsistent in the pause she gave between each. Casey was giggling over at her canoe, attempting to keep pace with the little girl, but knowing it was an impossible task.

Christen and Tobin exchanged smirks, but encouraged Ashley nevertheless. Their own pacing was good, even though Christen’s calling of strokes had been interrupted and overshadowed. By that point though, they both had the rhythm down.

“How about you guys just follow my counting?” Christen offered, to help out a little bit.

“Oh! Ok!” said the little kid. Christen began counting again. Not having to count and paddle, the girl’s strokes improved, but still weren’t anywhere close to mastery. Casey was having an easy time over on her side matching the power of the kid.

Despite this, the armada was making progress in the forward direction. It was slow progress, but progress nevertheless. Tobin and Christen were doing most of the work, and they weren’t about to break their backs getting the whole un-aerodynamic and bulky canoe contraption up to any level of decent speed. Still though, the kids cheered when they realized they were actually moving.

“We’re moving! We’re moving!” one shouted.

“We really did it! The ULTIMATE CANOE!!!”

Tobin checked her watch, and it was about time they headed back in. She told this to the kids.

“We don’t want to go back in!”

“Well, swim time is next. You don’t want to miss that, right?”

The kid thought for a moment. “No” she said.

Back at the beach, Tobin and Christen meandered over towards the swim area just behind the kids. They had already put everything away, and the children were eager to get into the water.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Christen.

“Sure is. That’s the great thing about this place. Those unscripted moments.”

“Yeah, an ‘ultimate canoe?’ Who would ever guessed that would happen? I laughed so hard.”

“Yeah, we made for a good team out there, being the only ones paddling that thing.” Tobin offered a fist bump.

Christen laughed, “Yeah, I guess we did. Though Ashley and Casey did help too.” She met Tobin’s fist bump.

“Sure they did,” Tobin said sarcastically, putting finger quotes in the air as she spoke.

The kids were eagerly waiting by the swim docks, near the ‘NO SWIMMING’ sign. They knew that Tobin had to flip it over before they were allowed out into the lake.

“Hurry up!” one of them yelled to the lingering Tobin.

“Hey, do we know a nicer way of saying that?” Tobin replied.

“Sorry... um, please hurry up?”

Tobin smiled, “That’s better. I just have to grab the lifeguarding tube, and I promise you can all go in after that.”

“Yay!”

Luckily, Morgan had gotten the beach ready already, and had the backboards out. She handed a lifeguarding tube to Tobin, and then Tobin flipped over the swimming sign. The kids ran out on the dock, before Morgan reminded them, one, they had to flip their swimming tags, and two, they weren’t supposed to run on the docks.

Man, those kids have a lot of energy, Tobin thought. Christen’s gonna be exhausted by the end of the week. Tobin thought she might have to do something for her, to thank her and help he recuperate from the rowdy group of kids she has this week. It was what a good friend would do, she thought. She figured she kind of owed it to her too, with the whole fight thing from the week before.

The next day, the weather cleared up a little. It was still cloudy, but at least the light rain had stopped. Christen was thankful for that because the overnights were that day, and the idea of setting up tents and cooking over a fire in the rain did not have much of an appeal. Christen was at the main office, checking the weather board to see if it was gonna stay dry throughout the night too. She saw Kelley in there too, making copies of something.

“Hey Christen!” Kelley said cheerfully.

“Hi Kelley!”

“How’s it been so far” I’ve been busy running around, I feel like I haven’t even had time to have a proper conversation with you the last couple days.”

Christen laughed, “Well, it’s been pretty good so far. We made tie die T-shirts yesterday with AD. It was so much fun!”

“That’s awesome. I’m really glad you’re having a good time.”

“I wish I saw you more though!” added Christen, “I literally took this job because of you. You need to come along on some our adventures.”

“Dude, I seriously wish I could.”

“Hey, why don’t you come with me on the overnight? It is my first one with a group of kids. Would be nice to have another adult with me.”

“Oh my god, YES!” Kelley shouted.

“Yeah! Well... don’t you need to, like, clear it with Foudy or something first?”

Kelley looked around the office and then out the windows to make sure the camp director wasn’t around. “Screw Foudy! I mean, I love her, but I didn’t get to go last week either. I am totally going no matter what. Say, what are you guys having for dinner?”

“Tacos in a bag.”

“Ooh... that was always one of my favorites. Good pick.”

“Well, the kids picked it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but you let them, so good on you too.”

“I’ll see you this afternoon, then?” Christen asked.

“Yup. I’ll have all my stuff and be ready to go!”

The morning activities sailed by quickly. They caught frogs and crawfish in the creek, and then did a few low ropes obstacles with Alex. One of the obstacles was a ‘spider web’ made of rope that hung vertically between two trees. The kids had to figure out to get everyone from one side to the next without touching the web. Some holes in the web were low enough to step through, but there was another rule that they could only use each hole once. The campers had to strategize how to lift each other so they could get through safely. They had done trust falls with Alex earlier in the week, so it was a good way to use what they had learned. The girls decided Christen would go through one of the big, low openings first, so she could help get them through on the other side. It ended up being a good move. On their first try, someone accidently bumped the web halfway through, so they had to start over. On the second try though, they did get everyone through without anyone bumping the rope. It was great triumph for the kids, and they all celebrated with cheers and high fives.

The afternoon was spent busily getting ready for the overnight. It took a lot longer than the week before because kids were just slower going from one place to another. It was true especially if you asked them to carry anything other than their day pack. One girl acted like a single pan was the same as a bag of bricks in the way she dragged her feet as they marched from the kitchen over to the beach.

They did finally get all their stuff over to the beach. Kelley was waiting for them, all smiles, reedy to go. Morgan helped them get a few canoes down, and a kayak for herself. She would lifeguard them over to their camping spot and then return back to the beach.

“Am I the last one to go out?” asked Christen.

“Nope,” Morgan, “There’s still two other groups, and then Pinoe isn’t even going out on the lake.”

“What?” Christen asked. It was then that Christen noticed over at the other part of the beach, Pinoe and her group of older kids were just setting up there.

“Camping at the beach!” Pinoe yelled, when she noticed the other adults looking at her.

“Usually only the littlest kids do that...” mumbled Morgan.

Kelley just laughed, adding “Work smarter not harder?”

For this overnight, Christen’s campers wanted to go to Piney Wood Hill. Luckily, no one had claimed it yet, so Christen was able to claim it for her group. It wasn’t very far to paddle, but you also had to climb up for the shore a bit where there was a flat, cleared area. On the way over, Kelley shared with Christen that the little bit of elevation provided for one of the best views of the lake though.

It was good to spend time with Kelley too, like actual time. Kelley had been a counselor before, and she seamlessly fit right into their group, helping Christen. She knew all the tips and tricks for a successful overnight. Yes, the staff did a practice, but having eight kids with you, there were always surprises.

By the end of the evening they were all sitting around a roaring fire, enjoying s’mores.

“Let’s sing some songs,” suggested Kelley. “It’s not really Camp Coldwood without some singing involved.”

Christen was still learning a lot of songs, but between her memory as a child and being there for a week already, she had picked up a quite a few already too. They ended up singing a lot of fast paced, silly songs. There was one about a reindeer, to the tune of the music they always play at graduations.

_My reindeer flies sideways, she’s better than yours_

_My reindeer can cha-cha, she can open up doors_

_My reindeer is purple, yours is a pea green_

_My reindeer is a great scout, she can dig a latrine_

_My reindeer wears PJs, yours sleeps in the nude_

_My reindeer has manners, your reindeer is crude_

_Your reindeer uses fire starters, my reindeer uses JUST ONE MATCH_

_My reindeer wears a poncho, your reindeer gets wet_

_My reindeer is healthy, yours has to go to the vet_

_My reindeer flies sideways, your reindeer flies UPSIDE DOWN_

_M reindeer is perfect, your reindeer is DEAD!_

Christen thought it was pretty funny song, as most people did. The ending, with the dead reindeer always got her the most though, especially because the kids always screamed it as loud as they could. As they were sang more songs though, Christen realized a lot of them involved things dying animals for some reason.

“Hey Kelley,” she whispered, “Did you ever notice a lot of these songs have death in them?”

Kelley thought for a moment, “Now that you say it, I guess there is a lot. The reindeer, the frog, the buffalo, the moose. Hmm.”

The both a shared a laugh at the excitement and laughter all the kids had for what were honestly somewhat morbid songs. Especially the frog one. That one was essentially the story of frog who got run over by a car and eaten by a dog. It had lot of funny sound effects in it, so regardless, the kids loved it.

Back at main camp, Tobin had wandered towards the dining hall and office. She had hung around the beach for a little while, with Pinoe and he group of teenagers, but the monstrosity they were having for dinner didn’t appeal to her. They called it chili, but, Tobin was adamant chili wasn’t supposed to have captain crunch in it. She got up from the sand and headed in search of a more appropriate meal.

At the dining hall, Tobin found it to be pleasantly quiet. She could hear two voices in the kitchen as she meandered through the dark around all the tables and chairs. In the kitchen, Ashlyn and Alyssa were sitting on two stools chatting. They still had their dirty aprons on, and looked like they had finished washing up not that long before.

“What up dude?” said Ashlyn upon seeing Tobin walk in.

“Not much. I didn’t think I would find you guys still here. Figured you guys would be ready to bolt out of the kitchen.”

“We seriously thought about it,” said Ash.

“Then I thought, if we do a little prep now, we won’t have to come in until 11 tomorrow,” added Alyssa.

“Ah, I see,” said Tobin.

“So here we are. We’re actually done now though,” said Ashlyn. She was leaning on the counter before, but let herself slide further to become even more horizontal.

“I came to get some food. We got any good leftovers?”

“Leftovers?” said Ashlyn, “You really want leftovers? I say we head over to Billy’s and get some burgers and ice cream.”

“Oh that sounds so good,” said Alyssa.

Tobin thought for a moment. She was kind of worn out and just wanted to cozy up with a book after grabbing something quick, but Billy’s was tempting. It was down the road about 20 minutes, kind of a tourist trap, but it was so good too.

“Ok I’m in,” said Tobin.

“Can you drive?” asked Ashlyn.

“Sure thing.” Tobin enjoyed driving her truck, and hadn’t taken it outside of camp since picking Christen up the week before. A good sunset drive through the hills and along the dirt roads was just what she needed.

Tobin turned the radio up on her truck stereo. She had it tuned in to a Christian rock station, and she happily sang along. About halfway through the second song though, Ashlyn couldn’t bear it anymore.

“I can’t believe you listen to this shit,” she said, only half joking.

Ashlyn then plugged her phone into the FM converter and powered it up. Trap music began playing, and Ashlyn bounced around in her seat, dancing along.

“I can’t believe you listen to this shit,” Tobin echoed with a laugh. “But seriously, can’t you put on something I would like too?”

Ashlyn scrolled through her phone for a bit, before selecting a song. It had a throbbing base, but Tobin then recognized the twanging in the background and the familiar melody.

“You got to be kidding me,” said Alyssa, which mirrored Tobin’s thoughts.

_Almost heaven, West Virginia_ sang John Denver’s heavily auto-tuned voice through the speakers of Tobin’s truck.

After the first chorus, Ashlyn asked, “Its good right?”

Tobin had to say, it was better than most the stuff Ashlyn had on her playlist. She did kind of like it too. Tobin answered by turning the volume up.

They rode windows down, wind in their hair, and music blasting through the windy hills until they got to Billy’s. There was a mini-golf course there, themed to lumberjacks, and there were a good half dozen groups playing. Luckily the lines weren’t too long at the food windows, so they didn’t have to wait much until they ordered. Alyssa grabbed them a nice table with a view of the waterfall that was part of the gold course too.

Tobin placed the number 17 placard the cashier had given her on their table. Their food would be brought out their table when it was ready. While they waited, the three chatted about how their weeks were going so far.

Ever the curious and forward person, Ashlyn eventually got around to asking about Christen. “So what’s the deal with you two?” she said to Tobin. “You guys were at each other’s throat one day and the next you’re fine. That doesn’t make sense. Are you just both faking it to get Foudy off your back?”

“No. I think we are actually good. We were both being weird and not ourselves when we started yelling at each other. I don’t really know what got into me, and Christen really doesn’t seem like that type of person.”

“How could you possibly know that, for real, though?”

“I don’t know. Just a feeling a guess? Kelley’s been friends with her for years too. She can’t have been a secretly bad person for literally half our lives.”

“She’s seems pretty...” Alyssa thought for a half second before finishing her sentence, “Nice? I don’t know. She has been to me at least.”

Ashlyn laughed, “I thought you were just gonna stop at saying’s she’s pretty. But oh my god, she is definitely that too.”

Tobin found herself not liking hearing Ashlyn say that Christen was pretty. “Yeah, I guess she’s okay looking,” said Tobin.

“That’s an understatement,” said Ashlyn, “Too bad the both of us are taken. I mean, Ali is obviously the most beautiful woman in the world, but you know what I mean.”

Tobin went quiet and into her thoughts as Ashlyn and Alyssa spotted the lumberjack mascot and discussed going up and taking a photo with him. She was thinking about Shirley again, and for some reason she didn’t quite fully understand, Christen too.

“I don’t know,” Ashlyn said to Alyssa, “I think your arms might be bigger than his. Yours are ripped, and he’s clearly got some padding as part of the costume.”

“Hey Tobin,” Ashlyn said, “You look like you’re in deep thought, eyebrows all furrowed. Does your big brain think Alyssa should challenge Billy the Lumberjack to a contest?”

Tobin snapped back to the present. “Oh yeah, definitely a pushup contest. You should bet him our milkshakes.”

“We didn’t order milkshakes,” said Alyssa.

“Yeah, but we will, once you win them for us.”

Tobin and Alyssa went over to the lumberjack while Ashlyn watched from the table. Alyssa flexed at Tobin’s encouragement, showing off her muscles. The tank top really helped sell the whole thing. When they proposed the challenge, Billy the lumberjack happily agreed.

Billy actually didn’t do too badly. He got to 48 though before he collapsed. The little competition had drawn the attention of the other guests getting dinner, and a small crowd had gathered. Alyssa went on to do a full 70. When Alyssa looked up and saw the crowd, Tobin was sure her face would have been red even if it weren’t for the impromptu workout. When they got their food, three chocolate shakes arrived with it.

“Thanks Alyssa,” said Ashlyn, “You’re the GOAT.”

As they stuffed their faces, Tobin thought about the predicament she was in with her girlfriend again.

As they slowed down, Tobin asked, “Hey can I ask you guys a question?”

“Sure,”

“If you are with someone, like dating them, and then you realize you’re not as crazy for them as you were at first, is that concerning?”

“Trouble in paradise?” asked Ashlyn.

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. When we first started dating last winter, it was like I couldn’t get enough of Shirley. Every day, I couldn’t wait until I saw her. Now, it’s like she slips my mind for days at a time.”

“Well we are at camp,” said Alyssa. “It’s kind of crazy here, and she’s not around, so it’s not like there’s anything to remind you of her.”

“Have you been calling her?” asked Ashlyn

“Yeah, at least once every week. I would be a horrible girlfriend if I didn’t do that. But that’s the thing, sometimes it feels like I’m doing it because I’m obligated to, not because I am excited to tell her all about my week.”

“Well, that is less than ideal,” said Ashlyn, “But every relationship has its ups and downs.”

“I just don’t know if it’s fair, to her, to myself, to keep up at something that’s inevitably gonna fall apart.”

“Is that how you feel? That a breakup is ‘inevitable’?” asked Alyssa.

Tobin thought about that. Was that how she really felt? “I don’t know.”

“Well you gotta figure out that out. If you’ve already mentally written it off, it’s never ever gonna work out.”

That made sense to Tobin. You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t try, and Tobin was having trouble finding motivation to try and keep her current relationship alive. It was weird, she just didn’t care. Sure, she still cared about Shirley as a person, but she really didn’t care all that much about their romantic relationship. It was nice to have, Tobin thought, but she didn’t feel the need to fight for something that was so clearly slipping away.

It gave a lot for her to think about on the drive back to camp. Tobin stopped at a gas station and filled her truck’s tank. Even though it was past 8pm, the long summer days kept the sky still pretty light out. They took the long route home, around the other side of the mountain. At least she had a chocolate milkshake to contemplate over, and Ash’s bizarre and wild playlists to eventually drown out her own thoughts too.

The sun eventually did go down, as it did every day, and back at Christen’s overnight, Kelley wanted to end their campfire sing-a-long with a more sincere, slower song. It would help calm the kids down before bed time, and also those songs were much more enjoyable for the adults. She suggested one called, ‘Thank You My Friend.’

“I don’t think I know that one,” said Christen.

“It’s a repeat after me song!” said one of the kids.

“Right,” said Kelley, “Except the repeat part has a different melody. Same lyrics, but different tune. And then certain parts overlap and blend a little, so you get some nice harmonies here and there too.”

Some of the kids didn’t know it either. Kelley taught it to them, and Christen was a student too. When they actually got to singing it in full, Christen could see why it was a favorite of Kelley’s. Though the group weren’t exactly the best singers, especially with half of them just learning the words, she could tell it was truly a beautiful song.

With the signing concluded, Christen sent her kids to their tents. “Ok, of to bed for all of you. You all need your sleep so you’re ready for tomorrow’s adventures.”

The kids piled in to their two tents. From their voices, Kelley and Christen could tell they were all changing into pajamas and getting into their sleeping bags. There was a brief argument over whether dinosaurs or fairies made for a better pajama print, but it resolved on its own when someone showed off their cupcake print pajama bottoms. That seemed to be the winner because it also had sparkles.

Christen and Kelley only stayed up a bit later, finally having some time to just have some conversation to themselves. They mainly talked about their school friends and what everyone was doing for the summer, and if either of them had heard from anyone. It was hard living mostly secluded in the woods when it came to keeping in contact with everyone. Between the two of them, most their mutual friends were accounted for though and they had at least heard something.

After a bit, they too decided to call it a night and headed for their tent. It was not nearly as chilly it had been a week before. Christen thought about how this time she wouldn’t have a need share a sleeping bag with someone. Not that she regretted the first time, but she would have felt like she failed if she had inadequately packed her clothing for the third overnight in a row.

The two adults could hear the noises of a tent unzipping a mere minutes after they themselves had settle down. There was lots of shushing, and footsteps, and another tent zipping unzipping. The kids were trying to be quiet and sneaky, but it was pretty obvious to Christen and Kelley that the girls from one tent were all going into the other one. All the kids were together, and it soon became obvious they were playing card games together.

“Should I break up their party?” Christen asked.

“Nah,” said Kelley, “They’re making friends, bonding. That’s what camp is really about. Both you and I know that. They can sleep when they’re home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was editing this to death and I still feel like there are parts where the words don't match my vision, but hey, whatever. I promise this fic does have direction, but we are gonna wander a lot before then haha.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen and Tobin give some swim lessons to the kids at the beach. Tobin does something important.

The next day all the groups found themselves back from their overnights by noon, where they then gathered for lunch. Like all the patrols, the littlest kids had come through the boat house that morning to drop off their life jackets and paddles. Unlike the other groups though, they made a bit of a mess. The youngest ones tended to do that, so Tobin was forgiving. Because she had wanted to finish putting everything back where it belonged, Tobin was a few minutes late to the meal though.

Her eyes instantly scanned for Christen and Kelley. She wanted to know how their overnight had went, and also just plain eager to see them again. She spotted Christen first, but her table was already full with kids from all the three different units. Whatever they were talking about, it was making Christen laugh, and Tobin found herself a bit envious of the children at the table.

Tobin quickly found Kelley though, and went and sat with her. It was always so cool to hear about the crazy stories from overnights. Tobin promised herself she would do a few this summer herself. She usually went every week, but with double duty the week before, she hadn’t volunteered yesterday. Tobin considered that Christen didn’t have that luxury of opting out, and wondered how her energy levels were. She looked over to Christen’s table again. It appeared she was telling some exciting story and the kids at the table were utterly glued to her. She was really animated when she told stories, and her hands, even with a fork in one of their grips, were being thrown all around the space around her. Christen’s eyes got big when she told an important part, and her the position of her eyebrows changed with the tone. Tobin thought that it looked like Christen was in pretty high spirits.

Krieger was not though. She had led a challenging overnight. Their matches fell in the lake, and one of their tents had a huge tear in it. She looked exhausted, almost like a zombie, while eating her food. That was how it was sometimes. Tobin made a mental note to send Ali off for a nap during her unit's swim time. There would definitely be enough adults around for supervision, and it looked like she really, really needed it.

Kelley was, much like always, also full of energy and going on and on about every detail of her adventure the evening before. Tobin listened to all of it, but every time Kelley mentioned Christen, she focused a bit more. In her mind’s eye, she saw Christen smiling at the silly songs Kelley said they had sung with the kids. It had been less than 24 hours she was gone on the overnight, but Tobin kind of missed seeing Christen for that time. The past week or so, they usually saw each other at meals, three times a day, and also at the waterfront, which was at least once a day. Just missing those last two meals, dinner and breakfast, well Tobin felt the gap. She missed seeing the Californian’s face, her smile. 

Later that afternoon, the Rosebud unit was enjoying their swim block. They had gotten lucky, and Becky had been the first to ask about swim blocks for that day. They ended up with the uber popular late afternoon time. It was the best. You could just relax and in the water or under the sun, and didn’t have to worry about making it over to the next activity on time. The next block was always the free period, where the kids just kind of hung out in their units and did whatever, whether it was a nap, pickup soccer, friendship bracelets, or a game of cards.

Tobin lifeguarded the first half, but switched for the second so it was Lindsey and Morgan. She wanted to go in the water herself, so she jumped right in. Christen was sitting on one of the docks, feet in the water, just enjoying the day.

Mallory, who was one of Christen’s campers, began trying to get her counselor to go swimming with them too.

“Please!” she said, hanging onto the dock near where Christen sat, “It would be so cool! My counselor LAST year went swimming with us!”

“Yeah, aren’t you hot too in the sun?” asked Tierna.

“I am a little,” said Christen, contemplating how good a quick dip would feel.

Tobin swam a lazy breaststroke over to Christen. Her head was low, somewhat in the water, with her nose just above the surface so she could breathe through it. Tobin stared down Christen with a mischievous grin peeking through the water’s surface. She put one hand vertical on top of her head.

“I’m a shark,” she said when she got close enough.

“I see that,” said Christen. She shook her head and laughed. Tobin loved that her dumb little display made Christen laugh though. 

“Tell Christen you will shark attack her if she doesn’t get in the water,” said Mallory.

“That makes no sense!” said Christen, “If there were sharks in the water, you would want to stay out of it, not go in!”

“Not this one,” said Tobin, “I only attack land lovers.”

Just then, Rose swam over too, although she very much fixated on watching some other kids have a diving contest off the floating platform out on the deep end of the swim section.

“Oh I wish I could dive like that!” said Rose.

“I could teach you,” offered Tobin. She looked at Christen with puppy dog eyes, and added, “It would be nice to have someone help me though too.”

Christen looked at Tobin’s big brown eyes and found them irresistible. Her wet hair was pulled into a ponytail, but a few strands had escaped and were clinging along the side of her face. Tobin wore a crooked smile too. She looked awfully cute. There was no way Christen was saying no to Tobin’s invitation.

“You know what,” Christen said, “I will go for a swim. Just hang on a few minutes while I go get changed into my suit.”

Tobin and the kids went out to the swimming platform.

“Can you teach me how to dive in now?” Rose asked.

“Nah, I only know how to cannon ball!” yelled Tobin. She took a few running steps before launching up over the water. It made a huge splash, just as she intended.

“Okay, I can teach you how to dive now,” Tobin said when she resurfaced.

Tobin hung onto the side of the platform, as she explained where to put your arms and hands as you dove off the floating platform. The kids tried a few times. Some of them were okay, but some were pretty bad too. Rose put her arms out in front of her correctly, but ended up just flopping over on her stomach. It was more of belly flop than anything. Luckily for Tobin, Christen had just made it out to the platform.

“Here, maybe Christen can demonstrate. That might help you guys out.”

Tobin watched as Christen explained what she was doing. She put one foot slightly in front of the other, getting ready to propel herself with speed out over the water. Gosh, she had nice legs. Christen showed how she put her right hand over her left flat, and made sure the kids knew it was to cut the surface tension of the water like a warm knife through butter.

“Okay, here I go,” she said.

And Christen did go. It was a perfect dive, Tobin thought. Flawless form and only a small splash left behind.

A few seconds passed, and Christen still didn’t come up from air. Tobin knew that was normal. A lot of the oldest kids liked to see how far away from the dock they could get without taking a breath. Even though she knew it was much too deep to hit your head on anything at the depth they were swimming in, there was still a moment of panic. She couldn’t help but wonder for a half second of terror if something had went horribly wrong.

Wet fingers gripped both of Tobin’s shoulders at the same time. Tobin jolted, nearly flying out of the water. Christen was yelling “Boo!” nearly the same time Tobin screamed “Ahhh!”

Tobin then immediately realized it was just Christen messing with here. The kids on the swimming platform were laughing.

“Christen made you scream Tobey!” said Mallory.

“Hey, that was mean,” Tobin said with a smile, but only half sarcastically.

“I swam under you!” professed Christen proudly, “You didn’t see me coming at all!”

Tobin couldn’t deny that. Christen definitely pranked her good. Seeing her so proud of herself and smiling, it was almost worth the bruise to the ego, Tobin thought. It was funny, a week ago she thought Christen was too uptight and prissy. Boy, was that assumption wrong.

Christen and Tobin gave a few more demonstrations, and that seemed to do the trick. Watching it be performed did more than anything else for the kids to get how a dive was supposed to be done. Most of them had it down pat by the time the swim session was over. Rose’s still didn’t look all that great, but it certainly did look a lot better than her first one. The fact she was improving made Tobin satisfied she was doing her job well.

For the remainder of the day, Tobin found herself in a wonderful mood. She had so much fun teaching the kids during swim time. She loved it. Lifeguarding was important, she knew that, but doing lessons was just so much more interactive and rewarding. Having Christen there to help was really nice to. Tobin wondered if Christen came back next year, if she would want to be a lifeguard instead.

At dinner, Christen waved Tobin over to her table as she walked in. It made looking for her in the dining hall very easy for the waterfront director. During the meal, Foudy even came by their table and complimented them for their dive lessons.

“I stopped by the waterfront very briefly this afternoon,” she said. “I saw you two teaching the kids how off jump of the platform. Awesome job.”

It was always good to get compliments from your boss, so Tobin’s mood continued to be in high spirits. And the high just didn’t seem to end. Even that night, she couldn’t seem to fall asleep. She just lay in her bed, staring up at the darkness of the canvas tent above her. She was smiling ear to ear though, thinking about Christen’s smile and her laughter when she had scared Tobin. What a great day. Tobin could barely wait for tomorrow, and if this is how the summer was going to be, she was excited for all the days after that too.

The next few days were great, as Tobin as thought they would be. Every day she got a chance to go out with at least one group and do some water based programming. Pinoe even took her group out sailing. It wasn’t often that kids wanted to take the sunfish boats out, because it was a lot of work to get them set up. It turned out to be totally worth it. They were a great group of kids, and because they were older, they listened well about all the intricacies of sailing. As a result, they were able to have a lot of time out on the water really playing with the wind and trying new things out.

Before they knew it, it was final campfire. Each group said their favorite memory from the week, and everyone sang their favorite camp songs together. It was always a bittersweet moment. And bam, the next morning, most the children were gone. There were a few that stayed over on the in-between days because they were in both sessions, but it was only a handful. Some of the kids who came for multiple weeks still went home on the breaks too. It was quite again at camp, and honestly, a welcome break for the staff. It gave them a moment to pause, reflect, and rest.

Tobin spent the afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing. She cleaned up a few things at the beach, but honestly, they had done a pretty good job at keeping everything where it was supposed to be during the week. That was a good way to start off the summer. She alternated napping on the warm sand and catching up on her book in a hammock she set up nearby. While laying in the sand, she had done a bit of thinking too. There was something she needed to do, and she was going to do it that day.

The afternoon rolled into the evening, but the summer days were long and the sun still shown proudly above the horizon. It was time though. Tobin wandered across the bridge that went over a long skinny bay, towards the camp’s office.

She found Kelley in there. “Hey, Kelley, can I use the phone?”

“Sure thing.” Tobin figured as much. It was after five on a Friday. She doubted anyone would be calling the camp’s business line anytime soon. She had to do this over a call too. Not text. Usually she would drive up the road until there was enough service to get a message out. She certainly had already done that a few times this year already, but it just didn’t seem the right way to do this.

The phone still had a cord on it. It was one of the types that was all coiled up, but would stretch out pretty far if you needed it too. So that’s what Tobin did, and brought the receiver out onto the porch after she dialed. She figured she could a get a little privacy, and not bother Kelley as much from out there. It rang for a little bit. Tobin almost thought she was going to get sent to voicemail when they finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi Shirley, its Tobin. I’m calling from the camp phone. Just in case you were wondering.”

“Oh yeah,” Shirley gave a weak laugh, “I was wondering why a camp was calling me. I saw it on the caller ID.”

Tobin was a bit miffed Shirley didn’t recognize Camp Coldwood as the place her girlfriend was spending the summer at. Whatever, she told herself. It didn’t matter anyhow.

“What’s up?” Shirley said.

“I needed to talk to you,” Tobin said.

“Um okay… about what?”

Tobin was silent. She had thought about what she was going to say, but the words were coming harder than she thought. It was all kind of blank now that it was happening.

The moment didn’t last long.

“Just about anything?” Shirley said, “How’s your summer going? See any wild animals? Wild kids yet?”

Tobin composed herself. “Uh, yeah my summer’s going fine. But that’s not why I am calling. No, not just about anything.” She paused for a second. She could hear the breath of Shirley through the other end of the phone.

“I don’t think we should be together anymore,” said Tobin.

“You’re breaking up with me?” She didn’t even sound mad. Just a bit surprised.

Tobin paused again, letting the silence set the tone. “Yeah.”

She knew she owed Shirley some sort of explanation. “We just haven’t been the same for a while. Even before I left. I’ve realized that now.”

It was Shirley’s turn to torture Tobin with silence as she formulated a response. After a few seconds she said, “I know I should be upset, but I’m not. It’s weird. You’ve been gone for so long already... it kind of doesn’t feel that much different.”

“I think that was the problem. We just... we just stopped caring.”

“Hey when you do get back to Colorado, don’t be a stranger though, okay. I will want to see you, even as just a friend.”

“Okay,” Tobin said. Colorado seemed so far away to her.

“Don’t beat yourself up Tobes about breaking my heart. You didn’t. In hindsight, it never really was going to work out anyway.”

That last sentence struck Tobin. How long had Shirley thought that? It was nice knowing that this breakup wasn’t a bad one, but Tobin was still hurt by the whole thing. A whole chapter of her life was coming to an end. This type of change, a sacrifice really, was hard. It should be. Had Shirley already mentally checked out months ago? Tobin considered that she shouldn’t really be judging. She kind of had checked out too.

“Alright. Thanks for everything. And thanks for understanding. Bye,” was all Tobin had to say. The main part of the phone was still in the office so she couldn’t hang up herself. She heard the other end click off after a few seconds though. Tobin kept the phone on her shoulder though for a moment. She was just processing everything as she stared off at the trees across the field.

After a minute or two, she could hear Kelley inside.

“Dude, did you just break up with your girlfriend?”

Tobin looked inside through the screen door at Kelley, who was leaning to the side from her desk. “Yeah.”

Kelley just continued to stare at Tobin, slow blinking.

“Dude, were you eavesdropping?” Tobin said it seriously just to mess with Kelley.

“Give me a break, you were talking like 10 feet away from me. It would have been impossible not to hear.”

“I know, I know. I’m just messing with you.” Tobin was trying to be her normal goofy self, but it just wasn’t hitting right.

“Are you, like, okay?” Kelley asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It sort of had to be done? You know, one of those things.” Tobin walked back inside and returned the phone receiver to its place.

“Okay. Well if you need to talk, or anything, you know I’m here for you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Kelley was already getting up and demanding a hug. Tobin didn’t really need one, but Kelley hugs were always welcomed, so she didn’t protest.

“I’m gonna go for a walk, okay?” said Tobin, “I’ll see you at dinner though.”

“Okay, see you later. We gotta hang out tonight too.”

“Deal,” said Tobin as she walked out of the office, flinging a finger gun back Kelley’s way.

Tobin headed towards the lake. That was her happy place and she would be able to clear her head. She made her way past Rosebud and as she rounded the turn, the trees gave way to the bridge that went across the small part of the lake. Tobin realized she was subconsciously heading towards the beach, but that seemed like as good a place as any.

On the bridge though, she saw Christen leaning on the railing. She had a fishing pole in her hand, but it didn’t look like she was fishing. She was just dragging whatever she had on the end in a figure eight right in front of her. Tobin had questions, so she stopped and watched for a minute from the end of the bridge.

After watching Christen do a few more figure eights with her pole, Tobin was still unsure, so she went out towards the middle of bridge, where Christen was, and leaned against the railing too. She watched some more, this time able to see that a few sunfish and yellow perch were following Christen’s bait around. Periodically they would get curious and nip at it. It was quite amusing.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to fish.” Tobin said.

“I know. I was never really any good at it. This is just as fun though.”

It was pretty entertaining, Tobin had to admit.

“They love the white rubber minnow. I’ve tried a couple out this afternoon. It’s their favorite. And it doesn’t get stuck in the weeds like the lures.”

“It is pretty cool.”

Tobin watched the fish play with the rubber minnow for a while. She could see why Christen had spent her afternoon doing this. The fish were pretty dumb, and even though they attacked the minnow every couple minutes, they seemed to forget every time that it was rubber and they would end up wanting to spit it out. It was also funny because the rubber bait was almost as big as them.

“How are you?” Christen asked.

“Okay I guess.” Tobin didn’t know why she felt compelled to say what she about to, but she did it anyway. “I actually just broke up with my girlfriend.”

Christen looked up from her fish circus and sees that Tobin looked, well not like she was crying, but just upset in the general sense. Her normal ear to ear smile is gone. It looked like one inconvenient thing, and maybe she would cry.

“Oh wow,” said Christen, “Jeez, I didn’t even realize you had a girlfriend.” She thought about how they had shared some close moments the past week, and how she had a very real crush on the lifeguard. There was pang of guilt.

“It’s hard because we were with each other a while,” said Tobin.

Christen finds it difficult to ask, but she knows it’s really the only thing to do. “Are you okay? Do you wanna talk?” she didn’t expect to having this conversation with Tobin, but here she is.

“We’ve been drifting apart. I knew it had to be done. Different paths and all that.”

Christen is processing everything. She’s pretending her focus is still on the little school of fish, but she’s just doing the motions now. Tobin never mentioned she had a partner. Christen knew the things they’d done were pretty innocent, but still thought about how she would feel if her hypothetical girlfriend had done the stuff her and Tobin had. She wouldn’t be thrilled. What if Tobin had mentioned those things? What if Tobin’s girlfriend had gotten mad at Tobin because of her? Christen felt another pang of guilt, this time stronger.

Tobin sees the rush of thoughts go through Christen’s head. She sees it on her face.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tobin says, “It definitely wasn’t just you. She didn’t even remember the name of the camp I spend half my life at.”

Christen doesn’t even hear the second sentence. All she hears is _wasn’t just you_. It implied that Tobin had recognized what Christen saw too, that there was something between the two of them. It might not be much, but oh, was it so evident for each of them that it was there.

Tobin continued talking though. She didn’t even seem to realize what information she had let slip. She was kind of rambling. “I mean, there were a lot of things, and I probably should have ended things before I came here, but I don’t know. Sometimes you justify to yourself that things will be better when you get back. You know, the whole ‘absence makes the heart fonder’ thing? Maybe that works sometimes, but not always. If you leave something broken, you can’t expect to come back after some time and it just be magically fixed because time went by.”

Christen was far too into her own thoughts to be properly listening. It didn’t really matter anyhow, as Tobin really just needed to get some stuff off her chest to anyone.

“Yeah, I guess that is just how it is sometimes,” Christen said.

Tobin could tell her words weren’t cutting through. She figured no one wanted to hear about breakups anyhow. She didn’t really like hearing about them herself. They usually weren’t funny, and never feel good, just kind of sad. She decided to not bother Christen and her fish anymore, so she continued on her way back to the beach.

“Hey, I know I’m probably being annoying. But thanks for listening anyway,” she said.

“Yeah, no problem, Tobin. Sorry I’m not being helpful.”

“Eh, I’m fine anyhow. See you around, Christen.”

“See you around.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Christen enjoy a day off.

Tobin had promised to hang out with Kelley that night, and so she did. They met up in the cabin they called Crikside, which was really just a hangout space for staff. It was a beautiful little building hidden in the woods behind the dining hall. It had a porch overlooking a stream, and a big fireplace in the main area. It also had two little bedrooms, but they were mostly used to store books and games. The space was used just for when the staff needed a few minutes to themselves. The building also had an old TV, VCR player, and some video tapes too. It was outdated as hell, but it did work.

Most the movies they had were pretty bad. After all, it was a collection of donations left behind by the TV’s users over the years. The movies were fun to laugh at though, if you picked the right one. Kelley found this one, called ‘Mac and Me’ and Tobin and her watched it that night. Tobin quickly realized it was a blatant rip-off of E.T., but that did make it easy to make fun of the movie too though. She and Kelley had a great time roasting the film.

Not feeling super sociable, Tobin turned in not long after that. It was a bit earlier than usual for her, but she wanted to take full advantage of the day ahead of her. It was one of their precious days off between sessions, so she was going to make the most of it.

As planned, she woke up early and headed up to the unit house at Rosebud. They didn’t keep much in the kitchen’s there, but they did keep coffee and tea. Tobin started a pot of coffee. She did a few stretches in the open area, trying to get both her body and mind to a fully awakened state.

Tobin heard the all too familiar sound of a latrine door shutting behind someone who just entered. The slamming sound of wood on wood was quite distinguishable. Someone else was up just as early as she was. A few minutes later, Tobin saw it was Christen. The woman grabbed a yoga mat from her tent and went down to edge of the water, where it appeared she was starting a morning meditation session.

Tobin remembered that she told herself she should do something nice for Christen this weekend. She figured a cup of coffee would do the trick.

Christen heard soft footsteps and the smell of fresh brewed coffee approaching. She had seen Tobin in the kitchen of the unit house just a few minutes before. Christen looked around to her side and saw Tobin was holding two cups. She had originally planned to grab a coffee a bit later, but she certainly wasn’t going to complain about one being brought to her.

“I hope I’m not bothering you,” said Tobin.

“No. Certainly not.”

“It looked like you were doing some type of meditation thing, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Well yeah. But sometimes coffee does more good for my mood me than meditation,” said Christen with a soft smile.

“This is a thank you. And a congratulations,” said Tobin. She gestured with her own mug towards the one she had handed Christen. “You made it through one week, and boy were those kids wild. You did good.”

“Thank you,” said Christen, “I was only able to do it because everyone was so helpful to me.”

“Enjoy the coffee, and take today to recover. Because the next session starts tomorrow, and a whole new crop of kids comes with it.” Tobin punctuated her statement with a little chuckle. She sat down on rock and took a sip of her coffee too.

“So one week in, you got any questions you still need answered?” Tobin asked.

Christen thoughts for a second, “Well I do have one.”

“Hit me.”

“I know there are few kids that stay over on the in–between days. I saw them yesterday with AD. How does that work? I think I heard something about signing up for a weekend?”

“Oh, we just kind of take turns. Everyone has one official weekend they sign up for, but most people stick around so it’s not really a big deal. Plus there’s only five weekends, so you end up sharing responsibility with a whole group of people. It’s pretty easy among the staff to make sure at least one of us with them. The official sign up is more so if everyone wanted to leave, to go out for dinner or something, there’s someone who’s designated to stay.”

“So kind of like being on call for a job?”

“Yeah, yeah. Actually, exactly like that. A lot of people love doing the weekend stuff though. You get to really know the kids and spend time with them not rushing from one activity to the next. You just kind of do whatever they want, whenever they want. Very chill. You have any idea what weekend you want to be on call?”

“I was thinking between the 3rd an 4th week. It doesn’t sound bad at all now that I know what it is.”

“Hey, I am signed up for that weekend too! Awesome!” said Tobin.

Christen took a few sips of her coffee in-between some leg stretches. Tobin just sat and watched the mist rise off the lake. When they were both done with their hot beverages, Tobin took the cups back up to the unit house. She kind of wants to go back to the point, to be with Christen, but doesn’t want to keep her from her mediation and yoga anymore. Tobin got up early because there were things she wanted to do too, so she gets on with them.

She digs through the boat house for a good 20 minutes before she finds what she was looking for. A snorkel mask. Specifically, the snorkel mask that fits her perfectly. She already has the snorkel tube, and the fins, which were both easy to find. Out on the dock, she can see Christen still sitting cross-legged at the point. The morning air makes the lake feel warm, and Tobin slides in without any hesitation. She puts the flippers on her feet and pulls the mask down over her face.

It’s amazing seeing the lake under the water’s surface in clarity. All the plants, logs, and rocks paint an awesome picture. Tobin sees a couple fish hiding under the swim platform, but when she gets too close, they scurry away.

One last deep breath in. One last deep breath out. Both through the nose. Christen opens her eyes. Everything seems brighter than before, even the colors of the trees across the water. The wind lightly rustles the leaves behind her. Christen scans the lake from right to left, ending at the water where the beach is. She sees someone floating on their stomach, softly kicking around. There’s a snorkel sticking up from beside their head. Christen can tell its Tobin by the shape of the person. She watches for a few minutes, thinking that if she was going for a morning swim, she probably wouldn’t have bothered with a cup of coffee. She figures being in the water would do all the waking up you need.

By this point, other folks are starting to rustle around and get up. Christen grabs her yoga mat and starts getting ready for rest of her day. She isn’t sure of exactly what she’s going to do, but strongly considers what Tobin said about rest and recovery. Grabbing a bite to eat from the kitchen seems like a good way to start though.

Christen finds a banana bread muffin, and thinks it will be a perfect breakfast. Kelley is not far behind her in the quest for morning food, so they grab their treats and head over to the archery field. It doubles as a pretty meadow too, and the benches make for a great makeshift picnic table.

It rolls into the late morning way too fast, but Christen is having a good time, so she isn’t complaining. Nothing sounds better for continuing the theme of rest and relaxation than sun bathing at the beach. The idea is suggested by Alex and Allie, and Christen joins in with little second thought.

Becky, Julie, Crystal, and Sam set up a volley ball net in the sand and are playing a friendly game of beach volley ball. Christen notices that Sam is really good. It’s probably her height, she thinks. It certainly helps a lot in volleyball.

Tobin is still snorkeling. She hasn’t been in the water the whole time, but she keeps jumping back in because she wants to explore more of the shoreline. She could spend all day just in the area around the beach and boat docks, she thinks. When she pops her head up to check in on the world above the surface, she sees a bunch more people have showed up at the beach. A few people, namely Morgan and Alyssa, have gotten in the water too, but only up to their waists so far. It was pretty typical that on days off, especially when the weather was sunny like it was that day, people ended up by the water.

Tobin also saw Christen with Alex and Allie too. They were laid out on towels bathing in the warm rays. All three had sunglasses. Alex and Allie’s matched exactly. Tobin’s stomach gurgled with hunger. She had only the coffee so far that day, and that was her body’s way of telling her it was time for lunch.

Tobin swam up to the dock. First she pulled her fins off and threw them onto the walkway, then she tugged her mask off too. Christen had sat up upon realizing Tobin was coming out of the water. She saw the red marks on Tobin’s face from where the mask sealed around the edge of her eyes. Tobin’s hair was also a mess, mainly due to the interference of the snorkel strap. She completely takes her hair out of the collapsed pony tail, and sinks herself down into the water. When she comes up, she lets her head hang back as she resurfaces, so it pushes all the hair back in one smooth direction. She climbs out of the water using the ladder, and dripping wet, ties her hair back again in bun.

Christen has been covertly watching Tobin throughout the entire process. She has sunglasses, so it’s not like anyone can catch her staring. As Tobin finishes up, her own eyes linger on Christen. It makes Christen wonder if Tobin just knew somehow though, that Christen was watching her. Christen turns her head and starts watching the volley ball game again. Was Tobin acting like that on purpose? No way. Sure, she somehow keeps getting more attractive every day, but the imprint of goggles around Tobin’s eyes make Christen pretty sure the display was not intended to be interpreted the way she saw it.

Standing up on the dock, Tobin can finally get a clear view of everyone at the beach. She sees the people wading in the shallows, the game of volley ball, and the sunbathers too. Her eyes linger on Christen. Thus far, Tobin had only seen her in a once piece bathing suit, but now she’s in a coral colored bikini. Tobin’s stomach rumbles again. Christen suddenly turns her head to the side. Did I get caught staring, Tobin wonders? Oops, better be more careful.

“I’m starving,” said Tobin to Alyssa, as she steps from the dock onto the sand, “Is there anything good in the kitchen I can steal?”

“Probably,” answered Alyssa, “But I did bring some stuff for sandwiches down and put it in the mini fridge in the boat house.”

“You are a literal saint.”

“Figured there would be a bunch of people here. Why not, right?”

Allie overheard the conversation, and has to interject. “The mini-fridge down here? Isn’t that the one we keep the nite crawlers in for fishing? Yuck!”

Tobin rolls her eyes, “They’re in their own container Harry! It’s not like they’re free range in there!”

“Whatever, Harry,” Allie says back, “It’s your business if you have to share your lunch with a worm.”

The brief conversation brought Tobin a few steps closer to all the sunbathers, including Christen. Tobin feels like she needs to say something, but doesn’t know what to say.

Luckily Christen does. She asks, “See anything good out there?” referring to Tobin’s snorkeling adventures.

Tobin is half tempted to say, ‘Yeah, you,” but she doesn’t want to do that in front of everyone. If it was just the two of them, maybe. Big maybe actually. Instead she settles with “Yeah, I saw your fish friends from yesterday. They’re mad you took away their rubber friend.” The dance continues.

Christen gives a little smile, remembering their conversation from the bridge the day before. Tobin keeps walking, and makes her way up to the boat house.

Later in the afternoon, Sonnet and Lindsey beg Tobin to drive them into town.

“Please!” Lindsey says, “We just want to get out of camp for a while! Plus, there’s things we need!”

“Like what?” Tobin humors them.

Lindsey and Sonnet look at each other. “You need... something, right Sonnet?” Lindsey says.

“Um... yeah? I need um... one of those...”

“Two of them actually.”

“Yeah, two of them.”

“Two of what?” Tobin asks again.

“Shoes?” says Sonnet tentatively.

“Yeah. You know you can’t get just one shoe. Two of them. Of course. It’s a must,” adds Lindsey.

Tobin figures it can’t hurt to take a trip into town. She’s not sure why the two counselors want to go so bad, but Tobin didn’t have anything planned for the next couple hours. Plus it would be good to spend some time with them.

At Christen’s tent, her and her three tent mates were all there. They had some of the canvas sides of the tent rolled up to let in the light and allow a light breeze to flow through. Becky was curled up with a book, and Abby was working on a friendship bracelet. Tobin leaned her forearm on the tent beam at the front, trying to get their attention. Christen was digging through her stuff, looking for something.

“Hey,” Tobin said, “We’re going into town, you guys need anything?”

The three looked up from their respective activities.

“Becky? Abby?” added Tobin.

“A thing of hair ties,” said Becky, “I swear the kids last week went through like half of the reserve I had for the whole summer.”

“I’m good,” said Abby, quickly. She had looked up initially to see that it was Tobin, but was diligently focused on her bracelet.

“Christen?” Tobin asked.

“Hmmm... well there is a few things I didn’t think to pack. Well... I don’t want to bother you with a list though. Maybe just a cheap pair of flip flops, you know, for the showers.”

“Hey, if there’s a couple other things, you can just come with us too. I have no idea what Lindsey and Sonnet want, except to leave camp.”

“Actually, that sounds like a great idea. Count me in.”

“Super. We’re walking down to my truck in like five.”

Lindsey called shotgun and hopped into the front. She tuned the radio to a local country station but turned the volume down so it was just background noise.

Sonnet and Christen jumped up into the back seat of the cab. The old leather seats were cracked in a few spots, but overall were holding up pretty good. All the windows ended up rolled down, and Sonnet stuck her head out hers and let the wind race around her face. Tobin had one arm on the wheel and one half hanging out her window. She peaked at her side mirror, and Sonnet reminded her of how a dog would act in the same situation. Even the tongue hanging out was accurate to that metaphor.

Christen had her chin resting on crossed arms that sat on the edge of her window. She liked the way the wind tickled the hair around her face as she watched the trees go by. It was all a green blur, and the sun flickered between the passing branches. It smelled of summer too. She couldn’t quite describe the scent, but it was that of a distant storm, a freshly mowed lawn, and pure earthy dirt.

Lindsey turned the radio dial and switched stations. Now, Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” was playing.

_I can see you_

_Your brown skin shining in the sun_

_I see you walking real slow, smiling at everyone_

_I can tell you, my love for you will still be strong_

_After the boys of summer have gone_

Tobin pulled into the parking lot of the general store. It was just a small place, but it seemed to have everything you needed. Not a lot of these types of stores existed anymore, but up in the middle of nowhere, in a small town where no big box stores would ever go, this one was thriving.

Inside, Tobin meandered through the isles until she found the hair ties Becky had requested. They were only a $1.29 so she figured she would just buy them and not worry about Becky paying back. She knew Becky would do just about anything for her, so she knew it would more than even out by the end of the summer.

Christen grabbed some cheap flip flops, a Sudoku book, some extra flashlight batteries, and a plain white t shirt she could tie dye. Sonnet and Lindsey went straight to the kids’ toy section and were looking at the prank toys, squirt guns, and bouncy balls. They also went to the food section and grabbed some microwave burritos. Tobin wasn’t sure what they actually bought, but they did grab a pair of bunny slippers too. Tobin suspected that was only because they told her they needed shoes.

After they were all back in Tobin’s truck, Tobin asked, “So while we are in town, we might as well make the most of it. You guys wanna grab a game of mini-golf at Billy’s?”

“Hell yeah,” said Lindsey.

“I’m in,” said Sonnet.

“What about you, Christen?” asked Tobin after a pause.

“Sure. It sounds fun to me,” said Christen.

They headed over to Billy’s and go up to the counter to get their clubs.

“I can pay,” said Christen.

“You sure,” said Sonnet, “for all of us?”

“Yeah! It’s no problem. I’m sure you’ll get me back at some point this summer.”

“Sweet, thanks,” said Lindsey.

“Yeah, super thanks,” said Tobin.

They go through the 18 holes, laughing and making jokes at all of them. Tobin is super competitive and gets mad when Sonnet beats her on any given hole. She tries not to show it, but it’s obvious she really, really wants to win. Both Lindsey and Christen are more laid back. They’re just enjoying the game, and are doing decent too. Sonnet is probably the most casual about the whole thing, but she is insanely good at mini-golf for some reason. She tries all sorts of trick shots, behind her back or bouncing it off the obstacles, but she has success with nearly every one.

In the end, Sonnet does beat them all, coming in first. Tobin is only two strokes behind in second, and both Christen and Lindsey are tied 7 strokes back.

“Woo hoo!” shouts Sonnet, after Christen tallies the score. She celebrates her victory with a little dance.

After the game of mini-golf, they all hop back into the truck and head back to Coldwood. The normally 20 minute ride seems to last forever, but it’s a good forever. It’s like some glitch in the universe, in that they might have well been just stuck in the same moment. Just driving on a summer night down country roads. Nothing else mattered, the past nor the future. Tobin keeps sneaking glances in the rear view mirror, to see Christen in the backseat. Once she catches Christen looking back. She doesn’t look away this time though. Their eyes lock onto each other. Christen smiles at her. She knows. Tobin smiles back. They both know.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a regular week of of camp. There are a few challenges, and lots of sweet moments too. Tobin teaches some kids how to fish, and Christen learns too.

It’s the first night of the second week of summer camp. Lindsey has the youngest kids this week. One of them is super homesick when it comes time to go to bed. Lindsey is trying her best to console her, but it just isn’t enough. She asks her fellow counselors at Rosebud to help her out. Becky tries to say a few words to the little girl, and the sobbing stops, but there are still tears. Christen figures she could give it a try. She ends up spending half the night talking with the little kid. She’s young, only 8 years old, but she’s had a hell of a life. She misses her foster parents. She’s scared that while she’s at camp, they’ll decide they don’t want to adopt her after all. Lindsey gave her some background, so Christen tells her that’s not the case. They sent her to camp because they love her, and they wanted her to have fun. It’s hard though, because Christen gets why she might think that after hearing about her life.

Christen tells her about her time as a camper when she was younger. There were ups and downs, certainly the first week she was there too. When she didn’t know anyone, she told her counselor she wanted to go home too. But then she met Kelley and they are still friends today. Just give it time, at least one full day. By the end of the week, you won’t want to leave. It help a little, but Christen knows the girl still needs more time talking until she’s good to be left alone and to fall asleep. Christen tells her how she misses her own parents too. They’re so far away in California, literally across the country. She’s honest, and it makes Christen realize how much she does miss them. The little kid senses that Christen is being genuine with her though. She doesn’t feel quite as alone. If cool Christen misses her parents too, then it must be okay. She gives Christen a hug, and tells her she thinks she wants to go to sleep now. Christen, in her head, is thankful. She wants to go to bed too, but is also glad the kid feels better now. She figures it was probably a little bit exhaustion too, but she’s glad she could help. Christen sleeps well, even if it was only half the time she wanted too.

It’s the third day of the second week of summer camp. Tobin is standing on the dock, lifeguarding Rosebud unit’s swim block. She has a white tank top over her swim suit, and sunglasses to reduce the glare that reflects of the surface of the water. She has her red lifeguard tube across her waist held loosely by both her hands. She watches the kids swim around in the third section, playing all sorts of games.

Christen is sitting in the first section. She’s pretty close to being on shore, so she’s really barely in the water at all. She has a few pieces of bread and is tossing crumbs into the water above the nets a few of the youngest kids have laid out at the bottom of the shallow water. They are trying to catch minnows. The little kids aren’t in her group, but they seem to really like her. The first night, she helped one of them who was homesick. That girl is there, laughing and playing with the nets. All the little kids seem to always be following Christen around when they are at Rosebud, and Christen knows it’s because of that one little girl. She must have told them how Christen had helped her.

The kids lose focus often, but eventually they do actually catch some minnows. The bread attracts the tiny fish, and when they are above the nets, getting a snack, the kids pull the net up out of the water and catch them. They put the minnows in a bucket with water. The kids stick their hand in it, trying to catch them with their fingers. They aren’t very successful, but it’s funny to watch from the adults’ perspective. At the end of the swim block, they’ll let all the little fish back into the lake.

Tobin is still out on the docks, dutiful doing her job as a lifeguard. She scans from right to left, looking at each kid. One kid is bobbing up and down. Sometimes they do that for fun. She does another scan. When she gets back to the kid, she sees them gasping for air. She feels the muscles in her neck and arms tighten. She watches them, seeing if it was just them coming up for air as an isolated incident, or more than that. The next few seconds happen in slow motion for her. The kid keeps bobbing, trying to get air. They start coughing. Water must have gotten into their throat. They can’t clear it.

Tobin jumps in. Morgan blows the whistle. Tobin swims as hard as she can out to the middle of section 3. She extends her red tube to the little kid. The kid desperately grabs for it and latches on. She’s still coughing, but in between, she’s taking deep raspy breaths. 

Tobin swims them both in. She has to pull the kid up onto the dock, where she is still coughing and trying to get breates. Everyone is staring now, but Tobin doesn’t notice. She wouldn’t care anyhow. There’s only one thing that matters. The kid seems a bit off balance and almost falls over, even though she’s sitting upright on the side of the dock. Tobin smack her on the back a few times. She finally coughs up some water and starts taking full breaths. They are deep and frequent, but at least they aren’t raspy anymore. Tobin sits next to her for few minutes, hand gently on her back. Becky brings out a towel to put on the girl. Finally, the girl seems to have caught her breath.

“You okay?” asked Tobin,

“Yeah, I think so,” says the little kid.

“What happened out there?”

“I just wanted to play with my friend. Keep up with them.”

“Hey, that’s okay. Just watch yourself next time, okay?” It’s perfectly fine to take a break when you need it.” Tobin offers the kid a smile. She’s happy it wasn’t worse.

The kid tells Tobin she will be more careful next time. She asks to go back in the water, but Tobin insists that she sit out the rest of the swim period. She tells her to just relax on the beach. She can tell it’s not the number one choice of the kid, but she does it anyway.

Christen watched the entire thing. She saw Tobin tense up, and then seconds later, she jumped in. It happened so fast. Almost instantaneously, Tobin was right there by the kid. Christen remembered from her own lifeguard training that you always offered the person your lifeguard tube. Drowning people tended to be desperate, understandably, and you didn’t want them grabbing onto you, as the rescuer. After the kid latched onto the tube with both arms, Tobin had swiftly brought the kid over the docks. A few tense minutes passed, and then the kid was able to get up and walk to the beach. Christen wondered if she just witnessed Tobin save someone’s life. Then kid wasn’t “drowning”, drowning, but if had gone on longer, it probably would have ended up that way. There where so many ‘what ifs’ that were rolling through her head. Christen admired that Tobin was so proactive. She spotted the situation before it had gotten to a worse point, and acted.

Within a few minutes, after it was clear the kid was okay, everyone got back to what they were doing. It was nearing the end of swim time anyway, so it wasn’t very long until they wrapped everything up. The kids from Rosebud went and changed back in to their regular clothes and went onto their next activity with heir counselor. It was like nothing had really happened, which was a good thing.

On Wednesday morning, Christen sat at the same table as Tobin for breakfast. They hadn’t had much time to talk since the weekend, but it was good to get the chance to. They mainly tried to get the kids to eat the oatmeal that was being served.

“Hey,” said Christen, about halfway through the meal, “Tobin, I was thinking I could use another person at my overnight today. Would you want to go with me?”

Tobin thought about the week before. How she genuinely missed seeing Christen for the time she was gone on the overnight. “Yeah! Sure, I would love that!”

“Okay cool. That’s awesome!” There was something unspoken between the two, but both kind of liked it that way.

Later that afternoon, Christen’s group was all at the boating docks. Tobin joined them as they set off. Christen could technically be the lifeguard too, bringing them over to their camping site. Tobin gladly took that job though. They were going to Square Eddy point, out on the Coldwood River. They crossed the lake, went down the creek, and up the river to the location where they could set up their tent.

Everything went smoothly up until dessert. They already had dinner and the tents set up, so everything critical as already done. They had, however, decided to make banana boats for a sweet snack before bed. Banana boats were made by cutting a flap away on a banana peel, and putting chocolate, peanut butter, and anything else good in next to the banana. Then, you wrapped the whole thing back up with aluminum foil and cooked it in the fire. It always provided a mushy, sweet dessert goodness at the end. However, this time, they had all gone overboard with the toppings. Too much chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallows. Every single banana, when it came out, was a complete mess. Nearly everyone had food all over their hands, face, and sometimes clothes. The banana boats were super good though. The best she ever had, Tobin proclaimed.

Christen got the kids to wash their hands off in the river at the bank. Tobin kindly demonstrated how to cache food a little ways off from their site. The kids went to bed. Both Christen and Tobin found themselves down at the edge of the river. They had the most marshmallow and other food goodness on their hands. Being the adults, they had after all, pulled most the banana boats from the fire and were subject the oozing that came out the creases in the aluminum foil. They were each rubbing sand on their hands, attempting to wash the stickiness away.

The water lapping intermittently with their hands was soft, and yet filled the silence too. Christen gazed up at the stars as she washed her hands. She commented that the sky was so, so pretty. Tobin had to agree. It was.

Back at the tent, Tobin lied awake, all too conscious of the fact Christen was only a few feet away. She really, really wanted to hold her like she had two weeks ago. She hadn’t cherished it then. It was out of duty, obligation then, then. Now, her want was selfish. It was nowhere near as cold as it was that night before though. She had no excuse to ask. So she didn’t. A few times she rolled her head over and just stared at Christen’s silhouette though.

Christen too, was thinking of the time Tobin’s arms were wrapped around her in this very same spot. She missed it too. She didn’t feel comfortable asking to cuddle though. She was still embarrassed that she didn’t know Tobin had a girlfriend then. Sure, it was innocent. They really just were freezing their asses off, but it still felt weird. Even knowing Tobin and this mysterious ex were no longer a thing. She didn’t know if Tobin was ready for anything more, with real feelings attached to it, not just the flirtatious banter they had been doing.

The next morning, they pack up everything from Square Eddy and venture back to camp. One of the canoes with them sees a big bass swim by when they are exiting from the creek back into Grace Lake. They get really excited and want to go fishing before they leave for the week. Tobin tell them it is best to go in the morning, so she’ll take them first thing the next day. Christen doesn’t see a problem with that, so she agrees.

Camp Coldwood always had fishing equipment, but in the years before Tobin had started hanging around, it wasn’t used all that much. Growing up, Tobin went fishing with her dad and brother all the time. Her sisters and mom often went too. It was just something they all did as a family. At Coldwood, she started taking the rods and tackle box out to get some use out of them, and soon people were asking if she could teach them. It wasn’t very hard once you knew how to tie stuff on. After that, the hardest part was being patient.

Christen brought her group of kids to the area where they usually had final camp fire. It was next to the lake and fairly open, so you could look out over the water. Tobin said this was good, because that also meant less trees to get lines stuck in. The kids didn’t always cast their line very good.

Tobin had already brought the fishing poles and other equipment over. She was just finishing up setting up the last pole. For the kids who said they’ve never been fishing before, Tobin started them off with bobbers and worms. It was real simple, you just waited for the bobber to go under the water, and then you gave the rod a yank to hook the fish, and reeled it in.

There were two kids who had been fishing before with their families, and wanted to use the rubber bait, so Tobin helped them get their rods ready. Christen had never been real fishing before either, so she paid attention. Tobin showed her the knot used to tie stuff on the lines. When all the kids were set up, Tobin handed Christen a rod too. It was the same one Christen had been playing with the week before, with the white rubber minnow on it.

“It’s you turn to catch a fish too,” Tobin, “No more just playing with the sun fish.”

“Oh I don’t know,” Christen said.

“I really think you’ll like it. This one catches big bass too. It’s super lucky.”

“Hmm, I guess I’ll try it.”

At the lake’s edge, Christen cast the line out into the water. She was satisfied she got it a decent way out. She didn’t want to look a fool not being able to even cast the line.

“Now what? Just wait?” asked Christen.

“This one is a little different than the bobbers.” Tobin pointed to the two girls who had similar poles as Christen. “See how they are slowly reeling it in, giving it a little action? Do that.”

Christen saw how the two kids were gently tugging their poles back every second or so as they reeled in. That must be the “action” Tobin was referring too. She gave it a try.

“Not bad,” Tobin said, “Not bad at all.”

Tobin took a few steps towards Christen and stood right next to her. She put a hand on Christen’s shoulder, and the other on Christen’s forearm which was doing the light tugging on the rod. Tobin guided her to help Christen get the right rhythm.

“There you go. Perfect. Do you feel that?” asked Tobin.

“Yeah, I do. It feels natural, like I’m not forcing it.”

“That’s how you know it is working. You’ll catch a fish in no time. Just keep doing that.”

One of the kids got their line tangled up, so Tobin then went and helped them get everything straightened out again. Christen kept fishing. After a few casts, her mind drifted into a calm state. She realized, it was almost like that when she meditated. The act of fishing was extremely simple. Instead of focusing on her breaths, she was focusing on the equally rhythmic motions. You could just kind of zone in and be with your thoughts. Maybe this is why Tobin liked the activity so much.

One of the kids had a fish on their line, and another had gotten their line snagged on a log in the water, so Tobin called for Christen to give her a hand. Christen reeled in her line, and leaned the pole next to a tree. She worked on getting the snag unstuck, while Tobin took the fish off the hook for the other kid.

It was medium sized yellow perch that the kid had caught. The girl looked curiously at it as Tobin held it up, getting the hook out carefully.

“Does it hurt the fish?” one of the children asked?

“No, no. Well, probably a little. It’s like getting your ear pierced though. It’s not that bad.”

“My older brother has a lip piercing,” said the same kid, “Is it like that?”

Tobin gave a little laugh, “Yup. Exactly like that.”

“Can we eat him now?” asked the same kid. Tobin had to smile. All concern for the fish’s welfare had been thrown, well, to the fishes.

“No. We only do catch and release here. That way the all the little fishies can grow up and become big fish. Then we can catch them again!”

Christen was still working on getting the line unstuck. She had jiggled it to the left, and had no luck getting the bobber and hook free. She tried maneuvering it to the right, and then it popped free. She gave it back to the kid to reel in and cast out again.

Tobin showed the child she was helping how to hold the fish, and then gave it her to she could. Tobin took out her phone to snap a picture. It would look great on the camp’s social media.

“Ok hold it out in front of yourself as far as you can,” Tobin instructed, “That way it looks bigger in the photo!”

The kid did as told, and Tobin snapped the photo. It did look great. Kelley would be thrilled.

Tobin and Christen were kept busy helping the kids, but they both got a few moments to fish themselves too. Christen even did catch a bass like Tobin had predicted. She even took the hook out all by herself, only with Tobin giving some verbal instruction. Of course, there were more photos, and then Christen let the fish go, back in the water. It swam away swiftly, eager to be done with the whole ordeal of being caught.

A bunch of the kids had caught fish too, some of even two or three, so it was a good session. There weren’t too many tangled lines, and only once did two kids get there lines tangled up in each other’s equipment. Tobin was pretty satisfied with how things went. Fishing wasn’t the most popular activity they had, probably because it was so associated with being a male activity. She was glad girls could try it here and see if it was something they liked.

“Thanks for doing this with my kids,” Christen said as they wrapped up.

“No problem,” said Tobin. “It was blast for me too. Great to see everyone out here, trying new things, and having fun.”

“We should do this more,” said Christen.

Tobin wasn’t sure if she meant fishing, or just them hanging out together, but either way she agreed.

“Definitely,” she said. “We should definitely do this more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too much of an exciting chapter... but that's because next week is the one you've all been waiting for.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the weekend again, which means there is ample time for staff to chill with each other. Christen and Tobin grow closer and finally get to spend some one-on-one time together. Kelly and Christen also get a package from a friend at Stanford.

Before Christen knew it, the week was over. She had completed two out of six weeks of summer camp. Now it was the weekend again. It was her time to do with whatever she wished. She wanted to spend time with all the amazing people that worked at Coldwood. They all had such interesting life stories and lives outside of camp. It was a privilege to get to be here, where all of them were gathered in one place. She also wanted to chill though. You needed to on the weekends.

Somehow or another, a bunch of the staff ended up in the dining hall in the evening. Even with as many as there were, it still looked empty as compared to when it was filled with campers too. The contrast to that picture was nice though. It was quiet for once in the hall that echoed sound like it was its purpose in the universe. Ashlyn lit a fire in the massive fireplace. It roared and cast flickering light throughout the spacious room. They didn’t need to rely on the light from the fire, but they turned off the electric lights anyhow. It made for better ambience, the vibe it gave off. Full of rustic individuality and spirit.

At the last staff fire, Tobin avoided all eye contact with Christen. This time she sat directly across from her, and could barely keep her eyes away. Luckily, the long shadows cast on her face didn’t make it too noticeable. She kind of didn’t care anyway. She broke up with her girlfriend exactly a week ago. She could look at whoever she wanted to, and think whatever thoughts she wanted too. A part of her hoped Christen would notice.

Most they time, at these type of gatherings, someone suggested singing songs. Usually the slower, more emotional ones, because the kids always demanded the fast paced funny ones during the week. Not this time though. They were all just content, sitting around the fire where they had dragged a semi-circle worth of chairs around. Crystal made some coffee and offered it to everyone. Small conversation was made, and there was a lot of light laughter.

Christen did notice the way Tobin stared at her. It was relentless. She only looked away when someone else said her name. Christen had an inkling that Tobin wanted her to notice. She smiled back. They made goofy faces at each other for a while. Finally, Christen got up and went over the lifeguard. Instead of sitting across the circle form each other, they were now right next to one other.

The way Tobin looked at her when she did that, it looked like she was just short of shedding a tear of happiness. Christen leaned in close to Tobin as Tobin gave her background information on some of the stuff everyone else was talking about. This prank was funny because so and so had done this the year prior. The old camp cook was always late in what time dinner was served. Camp has this tradition they do at the end of every summer. That type of stuff.

Tobin desperately wanted to put her arm around Christen. Just to touch her, even her shoulder. It seemed like a paradise she would never get too. Christen secretly wanted the same too. She remembered the way Tobin had held her on their forced overnight. She didn’t appreciate it then. She wanted it now too, but was too conscientious. Was Tobin ready? Would everyone else notice? Did she care if they noticed?

Tobin had a similar line of thought. At first she was unsure. Sure, Christen had gone and sat next to her, but that didn’t mean much, did it? Sure, it meant she liked her, but did it mean she LIKED her? God, she felt like she was in middle school again, way over thinking everything. All the thoughts culminated into Tobin deciding it wasn’t going to be an if, but rather a when she would make the move. Tobin’s heart raced. Her chest was tight, she suddenly became aware of her own breathing. Moment, by moment, she asked herself if each was right. None of them seemed so. But she didn’t need the ideal moment, she just needed to do it. That’s what Tobin told herself anyhow. It was just a snap decision, and after that she refused to let her mind second guess. Her body seemed to take control of itself. Tobin reached out and put her arm around Christen’s waist.

Upon feeling Tobin’s hand come around her, Christen leaned into it. It was a welcomed gesture. Tobin pulled her in close as a response. Christen put her head on Tobin’s shoulder. She couldn’t lie, it felt weird for some reason. But it felt so right too, like she had to just get through this first bit of awkwardness, and then she’d be fine. Tobin was shaking. Christen could feel it for the first 30 seconds or so. She had to been nervous to make the move, and Christen could tell. She was glad Tobin did though. Christen thought briefly about what if she was the one to have initiated the physical contact? Would Tobin be more at ease? It didn’t matter now. Tobin relaxed, and the shaking stopped after the first half minute or so. Christen heard Tobin take a sharp breath. She must have been holding it in unconsciously the whole time. Christen took Tobin’s other arm in her hand and gave it a stroke down the underside of the forearm. Tobin responded by giving her free fingers to Christen. They locked palms and didn’t let go for the rest of their time at the fire.

They still whispered dumb stuff to each other, giggling quietly every now and then. Tobin leaned her head on top of Christen’s too. Nothing felt more right at that moment. They had settled into each other. After a bit of them being in a zone where only each other existed, they started paying attention to their peers again. There were a couple other instances of people hanging onto each other, providing physical support like they were. They were all tired, it was getting late. None of the others had hands locked together though. They all laughed and joked with each other. Jessica told a story about the legendary skit she had done a few years back with Sam. It was this joke where one person was talking about a banana, and one a bandana, and they didn’t realize the other person was talking about something else. It ended up with a banana being smashed onto the forehead of one of the performers, and was always good for a laugh if you had the right people selling it. It didn’t even matter if you had seen the skit 20 times before.

Towards the end of the night, people started to disperse their own ways. Tobin stood up. Her touch lingered on Christen as if to say I want to stay, but I know I can’t. She announced she was going to the latrine, and then to bed. Tobin didn’t really want to leave Christen, but fuck, was she tired. She had enjoyed the time they had. It was at least two hours she had Christen by her side, the two of them staring into the flames together, so she really felt pretty good about how they evening had progressed. She was surprised, but grateful, Christen had came and sat next to her, and even more thrilled when Christen gracefully took her hand. The newness of it all, it was scary. It made her gut feel like a rock was in it, but oh, was it worth it.

Christen excused herself to bed a few minutes after Tobin. She waited in the dark, just by the path leading back to Rosebud. Tobin, who had detoured to the main camp latrine, came by a few moments later. She didn’t expect to see Christen again that night, but she had been dreaming of the possibilities, and was glad to see her night with Christen hadn’t ended just quite yet.

“Hey, can we walk back together?” Christen asked. She was incredibly casual.

“Yeah. I would love that.” Tobin said. It was true, she did love it.

The two just walked back to Rosebud, a few feet apart in the dark. Tobin didn’t need a light, and though Christen was almost at the point, she still used Tobin’s footsteps and voice as a guide.

“Hey Tobin,” said Christen.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“Could we like… hang out tomorrow. I don’t know what you have planned, but I would love to be a part of it.”

Tobin was grinning ear to ear, though no one could see it. A part of it was obvious in her tone of voice though. Tobin thought for a moment. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been thinking the same thing in the last few hours. She had imaginary plans, dream like plans that suddenly entered the realm of possibilities in reality.

“I’ve got some stuff during the day. But how about the evening?” said Tobin.

“Works for me.”

“Meet me at the boating docks at 5 then.”

“Alright,” said Christen. There was an intonation of curiosity. What was Tobin getting at here? Was it what she thought it was?

They were back at Rosebud. They were almost at the point where they should split off to go to their separate tents. Tobin let a pause go by in their conversation. She was thinking on her next words. Whether she should say it or not, but like earlier, it just happened. It was like he body knew it was the right thing. Don’t think too much, just do. The pause lasted forever to Tobin, but was really only a few seconds in the dark.

“We’ll call it a date,” said Tobin. It half was to confirm the time, but the wording she used was intentional, and both knew it.

“I look forward to it,” was Christen’s response before they went their separate ways. After the initial step apart, they each turned and lingered towards each other. The silhouettes in the night were visible. They didn’t say anything to one another, but they each saw how other was just as uneager to leave. Thoughts raced of what would happen if one of them raced of to some neutral place, and the other followed, but none of that happened.

The next morning, Christen stopped by the main office, and found an excited Kelley. She gave her some wiggling eyebrows, but Christen waived it off dismissively. Kelley was pretty excited about something else too, so she didn’t really press any further.

“Look what we got!” Kelley said, pointing to a package that was sitting on the center counter.

Christen picked it up. The return address was Palo Alto California. It didn’t have a name. It was addressed to both Kelley and Christen though.

“Can I open it?” Christen asked.

“It is all yours,” responded Kelley.

Christen carefully tore open the box. There was a letter sitting at the top. Christen read it, and discovered it was from a freshman who had made friends with both of them, Andi. She wrote a short, but meaningful letter about how the two of them had made her feel at home at Stanford.

Andi was a bit of a genius, even for Stanford criteria. Christen and Kelley only shared one class last year, but it was upperclassmen level, and Andi had been in it as a freshman. Somehow, Andi had found them, and they had formed a friendship. Evidently, Andi had remembered them talking about camp and had sent a package to them collectively.

There were marshmallows, some blank notebooks, two things of paracord rope, a field guide to identifying trees in the northeast, and a deck of Phase 10 cards. They were obsessed with that game back at school, and wasted way too much time playing it.

“Oh, this is dangerous,” Kelley said holding up the pack of cards.

Christen and Kelley locked guilty eyes. They were riding the same brain waves, and both wanted to play despite the history of it consuming their day.

“Do you... want to play?” asked Christen, trying to feign innocence as an instigator. Kelley pretended to think about it, but they both knew what her answer would be.

“Yes... I think we can play. Just one game.”

“Yeah. Just one game. That’s all.”

Christen won the first game, which then made Kelley want to play again. Christen protested a little, invoking their promise to limit themselves. She really, really, wanted to play some more though, so she didn’t put up much of a fight. Kelley was really, really convincing too. During the second game, AD came around during the middle and watched them play. She was curious, and started asking about the rules. Kelley did win that one, but then it was clear AD wanted to try, and well, it would be rude to not let her. So they played a third game. By midafternoon, Kelley had lost track of how many rounds they had played. _Oof_ , she thought. _We really let this get the best of us._ _Oh well._ They had wasted this much time already, might as well keep going. Sam had joined in too, and 4 people really was the perfect number of people for Phase 10.

Eventually, they did all get enough of the game. “Ok, I think we should call it,” said Kelley.

“We can play again, though, right?” asked Sam.

“Some other time?” added AD.

“Sure,” said Kelley with a smile. She knew she wouldn’t be able to say no. “I’ll leave the cards up in Crikside so anyone can use them.”

Christen looked at her watch. She still had plenty of time to go meet Tobin, but she didn’t want to cut it too close. She headed off back to Rosewood to get a few things done before then.

\---

Tobin was waiting at the boat docks. She was prepared early, something new for her, and the couple minutes of waiting were torture. She just wanted Christen to be here, so they could start. At first, Tobin was facing towards the approaching path, but that seemed to make the waiting worse. So she sat herself down on the dock, looking out over the lake. The blurry reflections of the trees and sky on the water’s surface always made her feel more at ease. The minutes flowed less like syrup and more like water.

As Christen approached the boat docks, she saw Tobin sitting pensively. Her knees were folded up under her arms and Christen wished she had a camera. Something about the way everything looked, the docks, the boats, the water, the opposite shoreline, it looked like it should be a painting in a museum.

Tobin heard the soft footsteps approaching. She turned and her heart skipped a beat as she saw it was Christen. Her face broke into a smile. Christen smiled back too. The Californian didn’t realize how taught her nerves were until now. Tobin must have picked up on it also, and was suddenly pulled into reality too. She was just daydreaming over the lake, and then seeing Christen gave her a shot of joy. Christen was here though, because Tobin had asked her too. Tobin really, really hoped her plans were going to be well received, and not too basic or boring.

The nerves for each were still there, but that wasn’t going to stop them. They could only now just do, and see how things went. Maybe they would end up yelling at each other like that one time they were both at the boat docks, but neither really thought that was a possibility after all they had been through in the short time since.

“Hi Tobin,” said Christen.

“Hi Christen.” Tobin scanned Christen from toe to head, admiring her. She was still in what would be considered camp clothes, nothing fancy, but it was still some of her nicer camp clothes. She had a red and black flannel, jeans, hiking boots, and her hair was down with its curls intact.

Tobin stood up to greet Christen properly. She gave her a hug and then said, “I thought we could go out in the rowboat. The sunset out on the lake is always beautiful.”

Christen just smiled as Tobin led the way over to where the row boats were tied up. Tobin knelt down and began undoing the rope that kept the boat from drifting away. Christen noticed Tobin had on a green army jacket she hadn’t seen the woman wear before. She also had ditched her boots for a pair of colorful sneakers. Her hair was tied back as it was most the time, but a few stay pieces had escaped. This wasn’t usual for Tobin though.

Tobin hopped in the boat and Christen followed. Christen saw that the lifeguard must have put a backpack in the boat earlier, as it sat between them on the bottom of the boat. She pushed off from the dock with her hand as Tobin put the oars in the oar locks. They were sitting across from each other, Tobin in the front, Christen in the back.

“Ok so you’re gonna have to tell me where I’m going, cause I can’t see,” said Tobin. That’s just how it was with rowboats. You had to face backwards to row, so it was helpful to have someone with you. It also made it necessary for the two people to be facing each other, which was very much considered when Tobin had chosen the rowboat over the other available watercraft.

“I have to know where we’re going first,” said Christen.

Tobin laughed, a bit nervously. Christen was still smiling, so that made her feel more at ease. “Oh yes. You know that bay, where the creek comes in? Not the one that goes to the river, but the small one that goes through camp?”

“The one sort of behind Tadpole unit?”

“Yes! That one. Well, I was thinking we could go over there. It’s kind of out of the way. Not really in anyone’s lake views except if you’re hiking around the lake.”

“Sound perfect to me.”

Tobin pretty much knew where she was going. Christen only had to give a few adjustments to keep them on their path. Tobin took slow strokes, not wanting to rush anything. They had time. This wasn’t a work out. Most her focus ended up gravitating towards Christen’s green eyes. They pulled her in, and she just couldn’t seem to escape. Christen blushed because of the way Tobin was seemingly captivated by her. She guessed the other woman had been wanting to look at her like this for some time now, but it was never the appropriate setting. Now though, it was like it was all coming at once. No one had ever looked at her the way Tobin was now. She had certainly seen some men cast some lingering gazes her way, but this felt different. The half-smile on Tobin’s face, the way she bit her lip when Christen smiled back. It was almost like the way a little boy looked at his first crush, just cute and endearing.

Christen herself, found it nice to return the admiration. She secretly wished Tobin wasn’t wearing a jacket. To see those arms in action rowing, well, Christen put it on a checklist to see before the end of the summer. Her imagination did a pretty good job though. Rowing was a full body action too. You used your legs for leverage and momentum. Christen let her eyes wander from foot to fingers, following a few strokes quite precisely as the energy moved up Tobin’s body and out onto he lake. Her gaze tended to linger on Tobin’s hands. Up until these moments, she had never understood how some people considered hands as being feature of attraction. Now she could though. 

Tobin took about 45 minutes to get to their destination. Usually it would take less than half that, but the patience was ever so worth it. The water and wind seemed to calm as soon the entered the bay. The sun was still very much above the horizon, but in the east, trickles of a darker blue bled into the skyline.

Tobin did one last rotation of the oars before bringing them up and resting them on the sides of the boat. They drifted for another few seconds, but would eventually come to a standstill tucked into the far corner of the lake. A serene silence filled the air. They were finally alone together.

Tobin picked up the backpack from in-between them and put it in her lap as she unzipped it. “I figured we would probably want something to eat while we’re out here. I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I know it’s not fancy, but they’re easy to pack.”

“I don’t need fancy. I love peanut butter and jelly. I mean who doesn’t?”

“Right? Even the pickiest eaters of the kids who come to camp eat PB&J.”

“Everyone except the ones with peanut allergies, I would guess.”

“Oh shit, I forgot about them. You’re not allergic to peanuts right?” Tobin said panicked.

Christen gave a slight laugh. She had already declared PB&J a favorite of hers, so having a nut allergy was definitely out of the question. The concern for her was cute though. “Nope,” she said. “I don’t know how I would cope if I were.”

Tobin set the backpack down after handing Christen a small bag with a sandwich. She pointed down to the backpack, “There’s some Gatorade in there too if you want it.”

Christen smiled at the other woman in the boat with her. Now it was her turn to gaze like it was the last time she ever saw a human. She was taking it all in, trying to commit every feature to her memory. Tobin had her head turned sideways and was watching a water bug race across the lake’s surface. Her jaw flexed as she chewed. _How on earth is that so attractive?_

“Thanks for bringing me out here,” said Christen, “This is really nice.”

Tobin finished her bite, “I’m glad you think so. I was worried it would come as a not trying hard enough.”

“No. This is perfect.”

Tobin finished her sandwich, then watched Christen take her last bite. After she asked, “Hey do you wanna try rowing around a bit?”

Christen looked up at the sky. They still had time before the sunset would peak. These long summer days in this far in the northern hemisphere made it so.

“Sure!” Christen said enthusiastically, “I can just go around in this part of the lake.”

They switched places and Christen took the oars in her hands. She put the blades in the water, and the handles out in front of her. Tobin placed her hands over Christen’s with a loose grip, and guided her through the rowing motion, verbally talking her through it too.

“And if we take a deeper stroke on this side,” said Tobin, “The boat turns the opposite way.”

“Just like in a canoe or kayak.”

“Yup. Just like that. You probably already knew that though. Duh. I’m so uses to instructing little kids.”

“It’s ok,” said Christen, “I enjoy your teaching.”

Tobin let go of the oars and let Christen go on her own. She picked up on it very quickly. It was a pretty natural movement, but having someone help you learn certainly helped.

Christen did a figure eight in the bay. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure she wouldn’t hit anything.

“Chris,” said Tobin, “You are nowhere near anything. Plus I would tell you if you were.”

“It’s just weird not looking where you’re going!”

Christen took a deep breath and put the oars down. “I don’t know how you do this all the time. My arms hurt already!”

Tobin put on a cocky smile and flexed her arms up the air. “I’ve got these babies!” she said in a distorted voice.

“Oh my god, you’re terrible,” Christen said, both of them now laughing.

“Oh you can’t fool me. You love it.”

“Yeah, yeah I do,” Christen admitted. Tobin’s goofiness was certainly one of her top ten qualities.

It was about now the sky started to turn. The clouds lit up in brilliant, vibrant colors. The east was decorated in blues and purples, and the west with pinks and oranges around a blazing sun. Christen shifted her shoulders and flicked her eyes towards the seat next to her. Tobin did not need a verbal invitation. She jumped across to the space next to her girl. They took a moment to adjust a little bit so the boat was balanced. Christen put her hand around Tobin’s shoulder, and Tobin responded by putting hers around Christen’s waist. Christen didn’t know which was better to look at, the beautiful sunset, or Tobin right next to her.

At Tobin’s insistence, Christen eventually settled on the sunset. Tobin took up one oar with her free hand to adjust the boat ever so slightly so they were perfectly positioned to watch the sun descend below the tree line.

“This is like a fucking movie,” said Christen. “I wouldn’t think it was real, if it wasn’t happening to me right now.”

“I can hardly believe it too,” said Tobin. She took her other hand, now free again, and wrapped it around Christen’s waist too, leaning her head on the other woman’s shoulder as well.

Tobin continued, “You’re here in my arms and feels like nothing could be better at this moment.”

Christen stroked Tobin’s upper back ever so slightly. She looked down at Tobin’s head on her shoulder. Something deep inside her, very primitive, was telling her this was a special moment in her life. Christen took a few seconds to take it all in. It could have been 5 minutes or 40 they sat like that. Time seemed imperceptible, inconsequential.

The last of the blazing red and orange sun dipped below the horizon. The sky on that side was still mostly lit up in warmth, but the deep blues of the east were seeping further across the sky. Christen once again turned her attention back to the woman who’s arms she was in. Tobin sensed the movement, and turned to face her. She sat up straighter, still holding Christen’s waist though.

Christen leaned in ever so slightly. She saw Tobin doing the same, so she let fate take control. Their lips met softly. Christen closed her eyes. It was so gently, skin barely touching. Christen pressed a little deeper though. She could taste a hint of peanut butter on Tobin’s lips. Christen threw her other hand to Tobin’s neck. Their lips separated for just a second, before Tobin came back for more. Later Tobin would decide it was the finest first kiss she had ever had, and she wasn’t eager for it to end.

Some amount of time that neither could precisely say, passed, and then they were staring at each other mouths half agape. Christen still had one hand on Tobin’s right shoulder, and the other around the left side of her neck. Tobin’s were around the Californian’s waist, clasped behind her.

“Did you like that?” Christen asked. She still had slight trepidations about how Tobin might feel about this, moving so fast after the end of her last relationship.

“More than anything,” said Tobin. It was fully genuine.

Tobin smiled from ear to ear, and so did Christen as Tobin pulled her in as close as possible. The each swung a leg onto the back side of the bench seat, so they could fully face each other. Tobin could feel every breath the other woman made, and she cherished every one.

Tobin knew there were some things she wanted to talk about. She was pretty sure Christen would take them positively, but the tendons in her neck still tensed up. It was mostly because the perfect, dream like moment was coming down.

Tobin started with just a shy smile. Her gaze flicked to the water for a moment, and then back to Christen.

“How do you feel about all this?” she asked. She gave a moment, but felt there was more clarification needed, so she continued. “Like, what are you thinking? Whatever your feelings, how strong are they?”

Christen didn’t have to think about her response very long. She could sense Tobin’s real question, being _How serious are you about this?_ _Do you want this to be a summer fling or something more?_ Tobin didn’t intend it to show, but Christen could see the hint of pleading in her eyes. It meant Tobin wasn’t in this just to have some fun in the sun. She was a relationship kind of gal. She was lucky Christen’s intentions mirrored her own. It was easy for her to answer.

“I like you. Like, I really like you. I think about you way too much and every time I’m with you, my heart beats faster.”

“Do you constantly think about when the next time we see each other is?”

“I do. Do you?”

“No. I think about the next time I can touch you. Even if it’s just passing the pitcher at dinner.”

Christen suddenly felt so aware of Tobin’s arms around her. She liked it though. She brought her arms a bit tighter in around the upper side of Tobin’s back.

“I know this might seem fast,” Tobin began, “We really haven’t known each other that long... and we didn’t even really like each other at first...”

Christen giggled at that.

“Ok,” Tobin continued, “That is a bit of an understatement. We loathed each other at first.”

Tobin moved one of her hands a bit higher, towards the center of Christen’s back. “But...” she whispered. She didn’t know exactly how to finish her statement.

Christen knew though. “But sometimes it feels like we were always meant to meet each other.”

The statement punctuated the moment. Tobin’s eyes suddenly became a bit watery. The fact that this girl could finish her own sentence better than she could meant it was true.

“Yeah,” was all she could muster for a moment.

“Anyway,” Tobin continued, "Up here, summer is measured in weeks, not months. I can’t let time steal you away from me. Not one more moment or it just might kill me.”

Christen knew what Tobin was talking about. Summer camp was only six weeks long, and they were already two weeks in. Sure, there was one week of post-camp, and school wouldn’t start back up until a few weeks after that, but still, Christen had planned to spend that time with her family across the country. She understood what Tobin was alluding to: Time was limited for them. Patience was not a luxury they had.

This was all a part of something that had been weighing on Tobin’s mind. It was the reason for the older woman’s nerves all night. Christen could tell. “Yeah?” was all the Californian could say. She was trying to encourage Tobin to continue speaking her thoughts. 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s stupid that I’m thinking about this already... Most people would say it’s too fast. I just feel really, really strongly about it. But also I don’t want to freak you out either.”

It was all pretty vague, and Christen couldn’t exactly pinpoint what her date was referring to, but she knew Tobin needed reassurance that she could tell her anything.

“Whatever it is Tobin, you can tell me. If you want, I mean. Just know I am open to talking things out with you. I’m not gonna judge you for your feelings. That’s how we got through our first argument, right, talking it out? Trying to understand each other? I don’t want us guessing what the other is thinking. That would be a lot of wasted time, us trying to read minds. And like you alluded to, we don’t have a lot of time to waste.”

Christen’s words worked as intended. Tobin furrowed her eyebrows, and glanced down quickly, as she formulated her next words.

“Can I ask you a pretty serious question?” Tobin said, “It’s okay if you say no, or whatever, maybe you aren’t ready yet, but it’s been on my mind all day. I feel like I have to ask.”

Christen was pretty sure she knew what Tobin wanted to say, and gave her the words she needed. “You can ask me anything babe, and I’ll be honest with you.” And with that, Tobin knew the answer before she had to ask. Christen’s words were chosen carefully. They had to be. There was no other reason. She couldn’t be surer, and because of that, Tobin finally found the ability to speak what she needed to.

“How would you feel about being my girlfriend?” she half choked out.

“I would love it.” It was an immediate response. No thought had to be put into it. For Christen, there wasn’t any other answer to the question. She had spent too many hours in the last nights envisioning the scenario to even consider anything else. 

Tobin let out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding. She was in a state of halves. She felt half near screaming, and half near crying. Both were half out of joy, and half out of disbelief.

“Wait, really?” she had to ask.

“Really,” said Christen. “I know it’s crazy, but we both feel the same way, right? I want to call you mine. And I want to make sure you're ready too."

“It makes me so happy to hear that,” Tobin said, "And I am ready. I'm in this, 100%."

Tobin looked up to the sky and closed her eyes for a moment, all while smiling. This evening was turning out to be exactly as great as she had hoped it would be.

After a moment, Christen shifted her shoulders, "So... are you gonna ask, or do you want me to do it?"

Tobin didn't quite understand, "Ask what?"

"You asked me how I would _feel_ being your girlfriend, not to _be_ your girlfriend."

"You know what I meant," said Tobin with a cockeyed grin.

Christen gave a pretend sigh, "A girl has to do everything herself, doesn't she? Tobin Heath, will you be my girlfriend?"

Tobin pretended to think really hard, even rubbing her chin, "Hmm... For Miss Christen Press, I think its an absolute yes."

They both giggled as they let their foreheads touch. Then they shared a quick kiss before repositioning themselves so they were side by side again. Their arms were around each other’s shoulders, leaning on one another. As the sky continued to turn from pink to blue to black, the held each other tighter. The brightest stars and planets made themselves known in the known in the night sky.

Christen suddenly jerked to the right, “Look!” she exclaimed.

Where the small creek came into the lake, it was shallow, murky, muddy and full of reeds and weeds. Above the plants sticking out of the water, flickers of light were visible in front of the dark blue background.

“It’s fireflies!” Christen exclaimed.

“Oh man, it is!” Tobin was just as amazed as Christen. She had seen them a thousand times from Tadpole unit, looking at the same spot, but it was so much more magical being out on the lake seeing it. She knew it was because Christen was in her arms too though.

They watched the fireflies dance across the water. Tobin silently thanked God for adding this treat to their evening. She didn’t know how it started, half drunk on the moment, but then she was kissing Christen again. This time it was deeper. It was more than just their lips touching. Christen’s hand traveled the length of Tobin’s spine, up and down a few times before settling at the base of her skull. Tobin’s hands separated from each other, one went as low on the waist as possible while the other rose up and around clasping Christen’s rib cage. They made out like that for a while. It was just enjoyable, really. They both felt like teenagers again, even though being college age, they weren’t very much removed from that age anyhow.

As more and more stars twinkled ion the stars, Tobin realized they should really head back. Tobin flicked on the white light that was on the back of the boat, and the front one that was both green and red. She took one oar, while Christen took the other. Tobin just followed Christen’s pace while checking their direction every now and then. They went fast enough to be productive, but slow enough that they weren’t rushed. Just as they were when setting up for their overnight with just the two of them, they were perfectly in sync without hardly a word. Though they weren’t talking about the rowing, they were entertaining each other’s thoughts through words.

“Do you do this often?” asked Christen?

She was clearly talking about taking a boat out at night, but Tobin played coy.

“Take pretty girls out on magical dates?” she said, “Only when I really like them.”

Christen twisted her abdomen, giving Tobin a look.

Tobin laughed, she answered the question more seriously. “No, not really often. I would love to do this with a group of kids, but it has to be the right group. I need to know I can trust them to do what I ask. It has to be safe, you know? I did it two years ago though, and it was fucking awesome.”

“What about on your own?”

“Yeah sometimes. It’s just nice, relaxing. You can think.”

“Well, next time,” Christen said, “Invite me if you feel like it.”

“Oh, I definitely will if it’s anything like this.” Tobin gave Christen a quick kiss on the cheek. Christen gave her one back too.

They got back to boat docks relatively easily. Tobin switched off the lights, and Christen tied up the row boat securely. Tobin grabbed her backpack. She had neglected to bring a flashlight, not thinking about it, and Christen didn’t either. The moon and stars provided enough light that it wasn’t pitch black dark out though. They could thank the lake and its reflecting prowess for what it amplified.

They held hands as they navigated back to Rosebud unit. Down the side of the lake, across the bridge, and through the trees to the point. The canvas tents were still positioned in a partial circle, trapped in between the shoreline and the fire pit. All was silent. Tobin figured most people were either at a fire somewhere or fast asleep. There were no lights indicating anyone was wake at the unit.

Christen wanted nothing more than to hold Tobin that night, except maybe to have Tobin hold her instead. She knew that wasn’t a possibility tonight though. They shared one last quick kiss for the evening. It was much like their first. Just lips and standing still, enjoying the moment. They then had to separate and go to their respective tents. It was cruel, and they both resented it deep down, but that was how it was.

What sleep they each had was the some of the best they had in a long time. It would have been most restful, except that each was up half the night thinking about the other. It was all good thoughts keeping them from sleep though.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so thankful for everyone reading! I hope you guys liked this chapter! Even though they are "together" now, I still have a lot more to this story, so stay tuned!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Christen deal with a few people finding out about their date. A new group of campers arrives, with new challenges for Christen.

Tobin awoke before the alarm on her phone went off. Judging by the amount of light sneaking through the sides of the tent, she could tell it was only by a few minutes. She laid in bed staring up at the canvas above her. Thinking about the evening before, she had to remind herself that yes, in fact it was all real, and not a dream. Her wake up alarm then did go off, and Tobin got up to start the day.

She tore herself out of her sleeping bag and let the chilled morning air hit her freshly exposed legs. A few rows of goosebumps popped up just above her knees. Tobin knew once she got up and moving, they would go away. She dug through her belongings until she found her toothbrush and toothpaste, and headed off to the large sink next to the unit house. When she got there, she found Christen and Abby had beaten her there.

“Morning Tobin!” said Abby. She was just finishing up, and because she had a towel and another bag in her hand, Tobin assumed she was planning to get a shower in before breakfast too.

“Good Morning Abby,” Tobin said back. Abby grabbed her stuff and set off down the trail, headed for the shower house.

Tobin waited a few seconds, watching Christen diligently brush her teeth while staring down her own reflection in the mirror above the sink. Tobin turned the water on ran her toothbrush under it.

“Good morning Christen,” she said smiling.

Christen paused and turned towards Tobin, also grinning. “Oof ornin” she managed to say through a mouth full of foam.

Tobin started to brush her own teeth, but couldn’t stop giggling like an idiot. Christen threw a bit of water off her fingers trying to get her to stop, but that just made it more difficult for Tobin.

“What are you two idiots laughing about?” asked Lindsey, who had just arrived.

“Nothing,” said Christen.

“Your face,” said Tobin, “It’s just so funny looking.”

Lindsey just rolled her eyes before stepping into one of the latrines.

Eventually they all made their way to main camp, along with the other units too. Today was the start of the next week of camp, so kids would be arriving in the early afternoon. Before that, the counselors all got their assignments.

“I’ve got a special group for you this week!” said Kelley, handing over a folder to Christen.

“Really?” she said, intrigued.

“It’s two weeks actually – these kids are a little bit older, and all go to the same school in Connecticut. They have been coming here all together since they were little. We love them.”

“Sounds like they love camp too if they keep coming back.”

“Yeah, one of their moms came here as a kid, worked a few summers too, and got them hooked. They’re super active, and like to do a ton of stuff while they’re here. You did great the first two weeks, and I think you would be great with them. Foudy thinks so too.”

“Well that’s awesome you guys are trusting me with this group. They probably know more about Coldwood than me! I hope I don’t disappoint them!”

“No way could you do that. It’s literally impossible.”

Christen flipped through the papers in the folder to learn a little bit more about the group of kids she would be spending the next two weeks with. There were eight of them, all 14 or 15 year olds: Jane, Midge, Lynn, Jordan, Sophia, Cat, Katie, and Taylor.

Pinoe, looking over Christen’s shoulder remarked, “Ooh, I love those kids. You’re gonna have a blast.”

All eight kids showed up at once, with two parents having volunteered to drive the bunch of them to mountains of upstate New York. They jumped out of the two cars immediately, not even grabbing their stuff, to go hug the staff they knew from years past. They practically attacked Kelley, Pinoe, and Becky, shared handshakes with Lindsey and Sonnet, and asked their parents to take photos of them with Ali and Crystal. Jane and Katie even went for full body chest bumps with Ashlyn, and somehow convinced Alyssa reluctantly to join in that too. AD preferred fist bumps with the energetic bunch, but that was enough for them.

Christen didn’t have to ask to know this was her group of girls. They fit exactly what she had been told about them perfectly. She hung out to the side with Abby, Sam, and Casey, who like her were in there first year as staff. Julie and a few of the others attempted to maintain order by continuing field games with the other new campers. The new arrivals were certainly distracting, but they kept things going smoothly, knowing they would get their chance to welcome the group back soon.

After rattling off all the things they were excited about for the summer, they noticed Tobin, who had just stepped out onto the porch of the main office.

“TOBIN!” Midge yelled. The eight of them abandoned whatever they were doing and went after the waterfront director.

Tobin though, took off running out onto the field, feigning escape from the group. They were not going to let Tobin get away from them though. It was eight on one, and though Tobin had some good moves, darting away from them at the last minute, Lynn ended up leaping onto Tobin’s back. That slowed her down significantly, and soon Tobin had a few of them hanging off her. She could hold up probably 3 or 4 of them on her own, but with all eight of the girls, they brought her down into the grass.

“You guys are terrible!” Tobin shouted through laughter.

“You should know better to run from us!”

“Tobey we missed you SO much!”

“Are you gonna be our counselor? Like the first year you were here? Or are you a lifeguard again?”

“Actually, I’m the Waterfront Director this year.”

“OOOH!” a couple of them said in unison.

Jordan added, “Sweet promotion.”

“Yeah, it is pretty sweet,” Tobin agreed.

“Do who you know is gonna be our counselor then?”

Tobin looked over to Christen standing over to the side. Her already big grin got a little larger, now flashing some teeth. Christen smiled back, and the kids’ eyes followed Tobin’s gaze.

“That’s Christen right over there,” said Tobin, “She’s gonna be your counselor this year. She’s cool.”

The kids, curious about the new staff member they’d be spending their weeks with jumped up and headed towards Christen. Tobin followed behind them.

Christen introduced herself, and the group of kids said their names too. They asked lots of questions like which unit they were staying in and which tents they would be assigned to. After, they all went back out the open grass area to continue playing field games with the others.

It wasn’t very long before all the campers had arrived. It was time to start the first day rotations. Tobin headed off to the beach to get ready for the swim and canoe tests. Christen’s group was sent the kitchen first. For new campers, this was where they learned how meals are served and how everyone shares duties to set up and clean everything. This group of kids though, they already knew all that.

“Can we have some snacks?” asked Sophia to Coach.

“You will eating later! I’m sure you can wait.”

“But we are growing teenagers!” protested Cat.

Alyssa and Ashlyn gave Vlatko an inquisitive look, clearly on the side of the Connecticut girls. He relented and just waved his hand a few times.

Ashlyn tossed the kids a bag of pretzels she found onto the center of the round table they were all gathered around.

“Here,” she said, “You can have some little pretzels, as a treat.”

The girls ended up playing finger football with the snack, holding up their fingers as goalposts, and trying to flick the pretzels into them. Taylor got the idea that one of them should stand behind the finger posts and catch the pretzels in their mouth too.

Christen hung back in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

“I’m not gonna lie, I feel a bit overwhelmed about this group,” she said the Ashlyn and Alyssa.

“Why?” Ashlyn asked curiously.

“Look how much energy and excitement they have. They clearly have a deep love for this place. I don’t want to let down their expectations. And they know so much about camp too. It’s almost like they don’t need a counselor. I look at how close they are to each other, and I just hope I don’t feel like an outsider to them the next two weeks.”

“Woa, slow down there,” said Alyssa, “You are thinking into it way too much.”

“Yeah, just relax and try to enjoy it. You are super lucky to have them as your group. It will actually probably be pretty easy the next two weeks. They’re super nice kids.”

“You think?”

“I know,” said Ashlyn.

Christen watched the group of kids for a moment as they continued making up games. They were loud, smiling, and laughing. Christen looked down at her wristwatch. In a few minutes, they would have to move on to the infirmary.

“Hey guys,” she called out, “Make sure you clean up the pretzels you got on the floor! We don’t want to leave a mess for our friends in the kitchen!”

“Ok, we will!” called out Sophia cheerfully. A few of them ran off to the grab a broom and a dustpan from the supplies closet.

Christen continued to stand in the doorway, happy that the group of kids responded to her instruction positively.

“Hey, you know we missed you last night at the campfire,” Ashlyn said.

“Yeah we were playing some trivia game, and Becky and Kelley’s team was killing us. We could have used you.”

Christen didn’t know exactly how to handle this question, but she settled with “Oh, I was hanging out with Tobin.”

“Really? She told us she couldn’t make it because she had ‘special’ plans. Whatever that means. What did you guys do?”

Christen hesitated. The questions were innocent enough, but she wanted to figure out how to answer them honestly without saying too much.

Alyssa elbowed Ashlyn. “What was that for?” she complained.

“It’s okay,” Christen said to Alyssa, “We went out on the lake. Watched the sunset. It was pretty fun.”

“Wait...” said Ashlyn, “That’s sounds like a... like a?”

“Like a date?” Alyssa finished.

Christen could feel the blood in her cheeks. She did have a little smile though too.

“No way,” said Ashlyn in matter of fact tone, “You guys can barely tolerate each other.”

Alyssa chimed in immediately. ”You haven’t been paying attention then.”

“What? What do you mean?”

The last campfire. You were so enamored by Ali, you probably didn’t even notice how they were leaning on each other, holding hands. I’m not surprised.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice,” said Ashlyn, disappointed with herself.

“Well, how was it?” asked Alyssa to Christen.

“It was nice. Really nice actually. We watched the sun set, and then there were lighting bugs out over the water.”

“Dude, that sounds magical,” said Ashlyn, “Did you kiss her?”

Ashlyn received another elbow from Alyssa. An under the breath “Ouch” could be heard.

Christen gave a mini eye roll before confessing, “Yeah, that might have happened.”

“Oooh, get it girl!” said Ashlyn. She gave Christen a high five.

“Please keep it on the down low until I tell Kelley,” Christen said, “She will literally kill me if she finds out she wasn’t the first to know.”

The two cooks laughed, “Yeah, we can do that.”

The group of teenagers had just put back the broom and dust pan. Jordan called to Christen, “Hey Christen, we finished cleaning up.”

The counselor walked over to them, “Nice. Good job you guys. We gotta go to the nurse’s office next. You all ready?”

“Yup!”

Seeing Carli at the infirmary was a quick stop. Next they were off to the waterfront, but first stopped by Rosebud to grab their swimsuits and towels from their bags.

At the waterfront, Midge was encouraging her group mates to do everything as fast as possible. “If we get it all done quick enough, we might have a few minutes to swim for fun. Would be that okay Tobin?”

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. You guys know what to do. Go get ready!”

While the kids were off changing into their bathing suits, it left Tobin and Christen by themselves on the beach. Casey was out on the docks, and Morgan was in the boat shed switching some lifejackets out. Tobin stood directly square to Christen and put on hand on each of Christen’s biceps. She locked eyes with Christen and took a second to admire.

“What are you doing?” Chisten asked.

“Stretching,” answered Tobin decisively. Sure enough, she started balancing on one foot, stretching the other leg up and out behind her. She leaned forward a little, using Christen to keep her balance.

“Is that all I’m good for?” Christen teased.

“No. I’m sure I could think of a few other things. Did you have a good time last night?”

“It was wonderful Tobin. Seriously, what an incredible first date.” Tobin looked up with a smile. “I’ve got my work cut out for me planning the next one.”

“Oh, so you’re doing the next one?” Tobin teased, “I don’t remember you asking me for a second date.”

“Yeah, because you don’t get a choice. You treated me, next time it’s your turn to be treated.”

“I can’t argue with that.” Tobin switched the legs she was balancing on and stretching.

“Hey can we talk about something?” asked Christen. “It’s not anything bad, but I think you should know.”

“Okay, what’s up?”

“I was talking to Ash and Lys in the kitchen earlier... and they asked me where I was last night. I didn’t want to lie to them, so I told them where we were. They kind of put two and two together.”

Tobin rolled her head, stretching out her neck. “Yeah, it’s hard to keep stuff like that a secret for very long here. We all live practically on top of each other. Thanks for telling me though. I have a confession to make too...”

“Yeah what?”

“I told Lindsey when she was here earlier. I just had to tell someone, you know? I only said we went on a date though.”

“Yeah me too. Nothing about...” Christen paused and lowered her voice even though no one could hear anyway, “us being together, like official.”

“Does Kelley know?” Tobin asked.

“I haven’t told her. But we’re gonna have to soon.”

“She will literally kill us if she finds out from someone else.”

“I know!” said Christen, “That’s exactly what I said earlier!”

Tobin went out onto the docks and the group of kids came running out a few minutes later. They jumped right in the water and started swimming their two laps immediately. Tobin knew they were all good swimmers from prior years, but she could really see how much they had improved too. They treaded water and did the canoe test in record time, so they did end up with a few minutes to just play in the water like a normal swim time.

Christen eventually had to take her group over to the arts and crafts building to meet AD, and then back to Rosebud to unpack their things into their tents. The kids were excited to see who would be sharing tents, and to set up their homes for the next two weeks. Lynn proudly shared that she had brought a string of solar powered lights that looked like mini lanterns to put up.

Tobin was sad for a moment to see Christen go, but she knew she would see her later. Her attention quickly moved to Pinoe and her group who were just arriving. Pinoe had the littlest girls this week, and they were a crazy bunch, running around, screaming, and getting into trouble already. It was the type of high energy Pinoe was entirely comfortable with though.

Tobin and Casey got the little kids into the first swim section and had them try to swim. A few of them could do okay enough that they would be fine in section two, but a bunch of them were very distracted by everything. One saw a salamander in the water and elected to chase it down, trying to catch it with her hands than to finish her swim test. Another was clearly walking on the bottom on the lake while miming weak doggy paddle movement with her hands.

“Look, I’m swimming!” she declared.

Tobin and Casey did their best trying not to laugh too hard, but did share a look with each other. It was pretty adorable too.

She and Casey decided to skip the treading water part of the usual assessment. It was pretty clear none of the kids were section three swimmers. The moved right on to the canoe test, which turned out to be a good thing because the little kids took a long time to do anything.

Most the kids were fine in the boat, but it was becoming clear that there were a couple extra wild ones in this group. One of these so called wild children stood up and jumped out of the canoe when they were supposed to flip it over. It technically did make the boat flip, but definitely not the way Casey had instructed.

Tobin leaned over close to Morgan and Pinoe and whispered, “Do not let that one in a canoe again unless we spend a lot of time explaining it to her. Rowboat only.”

“Yeah... I can see that,” Pinoe said.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly for Tobin. She was getting really good at being able to plan out all this first day stuff so it went smoothly. She thought back to the first week, how much more chaotic it seemed in comparison. It was good to be in rhythm, feeling secure about how camp was running.

“Hey Tobin,” Morgan said, “We still got those freezer pops over here?”

“Oh heck yeah. Let me grab some.”

Tobin hopped up the stairs, skipping a few steps, to the boat shed where the mini fridge and freezer pops were. She grabbed a red one for herself, cherry flavor, and a blue and green one for her two lifeguards. She knew those were their favorites.

“Thanks Tobin!” Casey said.

“No, thank you guys. You both have been incredible all summer. I couldn’t do it without you two, seriously.”

Back at Rosewood, Christen’s group had made it to the unit and were unpacking their items. Christen took the few minutes to work on the friendship bracelet she was making for Kelley. It had a few spots where she had goofed up, but overall it was looking pretty good. Christen had chosen Kelley’s favorite colors, a mix of blues and yellows to make the bracelet. She was almost done.

When the girls were all settled, Christen and her group gathered around the fire pit to start planning their next two weeks. Along with all the normal camp activities, the girls had two notable requests. The first was that they wanted to do some sort of backpacking trip, where they would hike somewhere to do their overnight rather than boat across the lake. It was ambitious, but definitely doable. Christen had seen frame backpacks in the garage, so they were available to use.

The second request was a little different.

“We’ve been coming to camp since we were all little kids,” Sophia said.

“Yeah, and we love it so much. Now that were older though, I think it’s time we gave back to camp,” said Jordan.

“We want to do a service project – something that will benefit camp as a whole. Do you think that’s something we can do?”

“I mean, I think so,” said Christen, “I can talk to Foudy and Kelley and see if they have any ideas. And of course, you all can think about it too. I’m sure you all have some great ideas.”

“This is gonna be awesome!” said Katie.

Opening camp fire was good. AD built a magnificent fire and the lake was nearly still. The orange glow of the flames reflecting on the water’s surface among deep blues was beautiful. Having the eight girls from Connecticut boosted the percentage of older campers, and so they were able to sing some of the more enjoyable songs, and less of the short silly ones (Though they still did a few of them too). Christen really liked one of them, which was sung as a round.

_A southerly wind and a cloudy sky_

_Proclaims it a hunting morning_

_It’s over the hills and away we fly_

_No sleep, my downy bed scorning_

_To horse my women away!_

_The hills bright Phoebus adoring_

_The face of all nature is gay_

_It’s a beautiful hunting morning!_

_Hark, hark, follow!_

_Tally ho, tally ho, tally ho!_

Christen thought having older, experienced kids would make getting them to bed easier, because you didn’t have to worry about homesickness. As she would find out though, she was wrong in that assumption. They simply were obstinate to going to bed, not in a direct way, but it was clear after lights out was called they were still up laughing and talking. Whenever a particularly loud giggle broke out, you could hear all the others shushing. After all the other tents were settled, Christen made a trip to her tents. She had to put on her tough face.

She knocked on the wood platform of one of the tents. “It’s Christen,” she said.

The talking in the tent immediately stopped. Cat opened one of the tent flaps. “Hi,” she said.

Christen poked her head inside, and saw the girls had been playing spoons in the tent. “Hey guys,” she said, “I know you like to stay up later, and you’re all super excited, but you really have to keep the noise levels down.”

“We’re trying!” Taylor said in a loud whisper.

“I know. I know, but I can still hear you guys from my tent. The younger kids are used to being asleep by now, and trust me, the last thing we want is a bunch of sleep deprived grumpy 8 year olds running around.”

“Yeah, that does sound terrible,” Katie said.

“Ok, we’ll play games that usually results in less yelling.”

“Yeah, I have some magazines too we can look at,” added someone else.

Christen went over to the other tent, and basically told them the same thing. They took it well, and agreed they would try to be quieter. Christen took a deep breath before walking back towards her own tent. She waited just in front of it for a few minutes, making sure the kids were being true to their words. It was clear they were still up, light from their flash lights could still be seen out of the corners of their tents, but she couldn’t hear voices from them anymore.

Christen hesitated before the first step up onto her own tent platform. She found her head turning towards the adjacent tent, the one Tobin and Lindsey shared. She stood there in the dark, contemplating if she should sneak by for a moment.

Christen soft stepped towards their platform. Lindsey and Tobin liked the open air, so they usually kept the front and back canvas flaps rolled up. Christen could see Lindsey snuggled up under her blankets in the front left bed, and could hear the slow and soft breathing of someone confirmed to be fast asleep. Tobin was in the back right cot, but Christen could not tell if she was still awake or not. She snuck around to that end of the tent.

Tobin was laying in bed, tucked into her sleeping bag, her eyes closed, but she was not asleep yet. She had put herself to bed and turned out her light not that long ago. Just a few minutes after that, she heard all the campers’ finally quite down. She heard someone from the other counselor tent go over and make it happen. She hadn’t heard them return, and honestly really didn’t take note of it. People generally tried to be quiet walking around at night, so it was most likely they were already back in bed.

Tobin did her the crunch of a few leaves around the side of her tent though. _Whatever_ , she thought, _you hear those noises all the time. Squirrels, mice, they are everywhere_. Whatever it was, it has stopped, aware of the noise it was making. It would probably scurry off in a moment. The noise came again, this time a stick breaking, right at the corner of the tent. A stick breaking implied it was something larger than a squirrel. Tobin felt her neck and chest tense up. _It’s still nothing to be worried about, right?_ She thought about if it was a deer. _No, there’s no reason a deer would be this close. They’re way too afraid of people._ Then she considered if it was something else, a coyote, a bear? It seemed ridiculous, she knew it. They were just as afraid of people as deer were. The only thing that could tempt them close was food, which never was left out at camp. Coldwood literally never had problems with those types of animals. Still, _something_ was there.

The soft crunch of leaves could be heard again. This time, whatever creature it was, was right behind Tobin. The tent flaps were up, so there was literally nothing between whatever it was and Tobin’s head. Her whole body was tense, ready to jump up take action. She was still, frozen, hoping the animal would move on though. Her eyes were still shut, hoping it was just a deer browsing the foliage at the edge of the clearing. Yeah, that was their favorite anyway.

A warm breath washed over Tobin’s forehead. That was it, she couldn’t take it anymore. She opened her eyes wide. And there was Christen leaning over her.

“Are you still awake?” the Californian whispered.

Tobin’s panic transformed into relief, then glee. “Yeah, I am,” she whispered, “You kind of scared me there. I didn’t know what was walking up around the tent.”

“Sorry. I was trying to be quiet as possible, in case you were already sleeping.”

“It’s okay. Is Lindsey asleep?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“So, what’s up?” Tobin asked.

“I wanted to do this.”

Christen leaned her head directly over Tobin’s. Her pony tail had fallen to one side and was brushing against Tobin’s cheek. Christen’s lips were just above Tobin’s, and then she softly pressed them down. Their heads were still orientated vertically opposite one another. It was like that upside down kiss in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002), but horizontal instead.

Christen lifted her head up again. “Come back,” Tobin whispered. The Californian obliged. This time Christen rested her forearms on either side of Tobin’s head. She let the weight of her upper body fall onto Tobin’s mattress, and her head into the kiss.

A feeling of comfort radiated through Tobin, starting from where her lips met Christen’s and traveling down through her core and legs, all the way to her toes. Christen’s touch was soft, soothing, and all was right in the world. As she deepened the kiss, Tobin felt lighter, as if she was floating in the ocean. Christen didn’t know what exactly had compelled her to come over to Tobin’s tent and do this, but she was glad she did. Tobin drank her in like an exquisite wine. She could tell the lifeguard cherished every moment that Christen was at her lips.

“As nice as this is,” Tobin said, “Maybe we should step out for a moment.” She gestured over to Lindsey. She couldn’t imagine how embarrassed the two of them would be if Lindsey woke up to them like that. They would never hear the end of it either. Christen sneaking over to Tobin’s tent. No, they would not be giving that type of ammunition for teasing to anyone.

Tobin carefully eased herself out of the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible. The springs in the cots were always noisy, and it half seemed like forever before Tobin was on her feet. There was a grassy hill out in the middle of the unit, so that is where they went. Tobin had grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the two of them. It had been partly cloudy that day, and that carried over into the night. There were a few patches of dazzling stars, but much if the sky was covered in darkness. The moonlight shined through though, creating a blurry white spot amongst the clouds.

“So those girls from Connecticut, they’re pretty awesome right?” asked Tobin.

“Yeah they are. They want to do a service project for camp. I’m not sure what it will be yet, but it’s great that they are eager, asking, to do something like that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love being Waterfront Director, and would choose to do it 100 times over. But I am a bit jealous of you, not gonna lie.”

Christen smiled, “I am a bit anxious about it all too. I mentioned it earlier to our friends in the kitchen, and they did make me feel better about it, but it’s still there.”

“How so?”

“Well, like, look at how they attacked you earlier today. It’s because they have such fond memories of camp, and of you. There’s this expectation to live up to that, and I just want everything to be as perfect as they remember it all these past summers.”

“Babe, you don’t gotta be perfect. Let me tell you that. My first year working here, I made a lot of mistakes. I am much better on the waterfront than I ever was as a counselor. Those unplanned moments though, those make the magic of camp.”

“Oh come on. The way everyone talks about you, I think you’re selling yourself short.”

“No seriously. You want to hear a story about how I totally fucked up?”

“No way that happened.”

“Sure thing it did. I took the Connecticut girls on an overnight, and I broke all the tent poles.”

“Wait, all of them?”

“Yup. That’s what happens when you put them at the bottom of your boat and let everyone step on them. I was being a big dummy. I thought we could just sleep out under the stars, but then it started raining too. I was like, what the heck? What am I going to do?”

“So what happened?” Christen really wanted to know how Tobin salvaged the situation.

“Well, we still had the tents themselves, so tied them together in attempt to create a makeshift shelter. We set it up in-between some trees, and used the broken poles or just some sticks we found to give it a little extra support. It was like this cool little fort thing though. Totally poorly put together, but it worked. It ended up being a ton of fun figuring everything out, building it, and then hiding from the rain there together. At the end of the week, the kids said it was their favorite memory that summer.”

“Wow. Thanks for sharing that with me Tobin. It actually... makes me feel a lot better about going into this week.”

“Yeah, I mean that’s what it’s all about. Sometimes you just gotta roll with things and all you can do is your best. And trust that it will be okay. No mistakes, just memories.”

“That whole attitude here, I am finding it’s something I really do love about this place. There so much pressure out there in the world to be perfect and to constantly compare yourself to others. Here though, it’s like, everyone just wants to help and to see you to succeed. The kids, the staff, no one is going around in fear of mistakes. It’s wonderful.”

“I think the rest of the world should be more like that.”

“Me too.”

In the moment, Christen couldn’t have be more grateful she had Tobin in her life. She buried her head into Tobin’s neck, just enjoying being held by the other woman. Tobin planted some kisses into Christen’s hair, before moving a few down to Christen’s cheeks and jaw.

“I could stay up all night with you,” Christen remarked.

“But,” Tobin said. She knew it was coming.

“But I think we’d both regret it in the morning if we didn’t get any sleep.”

Tobin reluctantly agreed. Christen demanded one last hug before they each retired to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did the spider-man reference ruin the moment? Probably. Did I leave it in anyway? Absolutely. It was in my first draft, and no matter how many times I edited, it felt wrong to remove. So this is what you get.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley finds out about Christen and Tobin's budding relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot of filler / fluff but I'm setting some things up too. On the shorter side, but its also a day early. Why? I will be busy tomorrow going to my first USWNT game!!!! I'm so excited! Enjoy loves. As always, thanks for reading.

“That’s fantastic,” says Foudy upon hearing that Christen’s group of campers wants to do a service project.

“I’ve always wanted to start a CIT program here. If this goes well, I can present this to the board, and show them how beneficial it would be.”

“Yeah, plus its super cool,” adds Kelley.

“Super cool,” confirms the camp director.

Christen is sitting on Kelley’s desk in the main office. Kelley asks her “Do they have any ideas?”

“Well they did have a couple good proposals,” began Christen, “But if you guys have something you think would be good for them, I’d love to hear it too.”

“Well first, let’s hear what they were thinking.”

“One of their ideas that I thought was really good, and also doable, was to put a nature trail in from the Dining Hall over to Tadpole Unit. They were thinking, right now the trail goes from the Dining Hall, to Gaia, and then over Tadpole, but it would be more direct if there was a path straight there. And then they wanted to add some placards labeling the different plants and trees along it.”

“So it would be a bit more rugged than our regular paths, right?” asked Kelley.

“Yeah it would be. Only meant for walking, but it would be a nice shortcut too.”

“What about the creek?” asked Foudy. She was referring to the brook that ran out from behind main camp towards Tadpole unit and let out into the lake. “You’ll have to cross it somehow.”

“I think that’s gonna be the hardest part. We’ll have to build a bridge to make the whole project work.”

“It’s quite an ambitious project,” said Foudy, “But if they want to do it, I see no reason to tell them no. You think you can handle it Christen?”

“Oh yes.”

“I can help too,” added Kelley, “Here, I can go show you were the tools are in the garage right now!”

Both Christen and Kelley stepped out of the office. Christen’s group of girls were out in the field, doing team building activities with Alex. It was part of the sequence campers did to build up to doing the ropes course. Alex had them all, collectively as a group, trying to stand on one little square piece of wood, maybe a foot by a foot.

“You’re project to build a nature trail sounds awesome!” Kelley yelled to them.

“Sweet!” Jordan yelled back. It distracted the group enough that they the lost their balance, and fell off the piece of wood.

Alex encouraged them to try again though, “Ah, you guys almost had it that time. One more go and I’m sure you’ll get it!”

“Kelley is going to show me where the tools we will need are,” said Christen, “I’ll be back in a little bit. You good Alex?”

“Yup! We are all good here!”

Walking down the road towards the garage, Kelley talked about how excited she was for this project, how she thought the bridge should be built, what kinds of plants they could be a labeled, and really anything else that popped into her head about it. Christen just listened diligently, trying to make mental notes of everything.

“This summer is just going awesome! Isn’t it?” remarked Kelley.

“Totally. It’s been everything I expected it to be... and more.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well I laugh out loud every day, it’s nice not being glued to my phone or computer, I’m doing things I’ve never done before...” Christen trailed off.

Kelley gave Christen the raised one eyebrow, and leaned forward as they walked to make sure Christen could see it. She knew Christen was omitting something she wanted to say.

“I know when you want to say something. Spit it out.”

Christen didn’t really know how to tell Kelley this. “So you know, Tobin, right?” she began.

“Um... yes?” She wasn’t sure if it was some kind of trick question.

“Well, you know, like... uh... she’s pretty cool. Pretty amazing actually. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. I didn’t expect that. And you know, it’s been nice.”

“Oh my god. You totally have a crush. Haha, I told you.”

“Right.”

“It’s going to be really hard for me not to do anything. I have it on authority that she’s single. Should I play it subtle, or just straight up tell her that you like her?”

“I don’t think you’ll have to tell her.”

It did not click with Kelley. “Oh come on! Please, please, please!”

Christen just repeated herself. “Nope. I don’t think you’ll have to tell her.” She couldn’t help but let the corner of her lips turn up into a smirk.

The gears in Kelley’s head were turning. It took her a moment, but then she stopped in her tracks and cocked her head to the side, hands on her hips. “Christen, you dynamite gal. No wing woman needed!” Kelley was very proud of her college roommate. “So... I’m gonna need more details.”

Christen told Kelley everything she wanted to hear. She explained how Christen had asked to hang out, how Tobin had turned it into a date, and how she had accidentally scared Tobin sneaking over to her tent to give her a goodnight kiss. She left out the part where they had become girlfriends, just because it seemed like that was something they still were keeping to themselves for now.

“Ahh! Kelley fake screamed in enthusiasm. She put her hands on either side of her face. “I’m so freaking happy for you!” She then jumped up Christen, wrapping her arms around her neck in a hug. Luckily the Californian was prepared and caught her. “And I’m so happy for Tobes too,” Kelley added.

Christen put Kelley down and made her walk the rest of the way to the garage. Once there, Kelley pointed out where the shovels and rakes were. She also showed Christen where the hammers, nails, drills, and screws were. Lastly, Kelley took Christen to the back of the large building to where the spare lumber was kept.

“There should be enough here to build a foot bridge, but it you think you’ll need more, we can always run into town to pick up some more. Also, once you get the plans done, let me know and I’ll move the materials closer with the camp van.”

“You’re awesome Kelley,” said Christen, “Seriously thank you so much. I think we have everything we need to get started.”

“Sweet. Hey, there’s a few things I gotta do over here anyhow, so you can head back, if you want. I don’t want to keep you too long.”

“Okay, see you later Kells,” Christen said. She wanted to make a quick detour of her own on the way back to the grass field.

When Christen did arrive back at main camp, she saw that Alex had the girls in a knot of hands and arms. They were to untangle themselves without letting go of each other's arms. They had a situation where Katie was supposed to be on the other side of the circle, and were trying to figure out how to get her over there. Jane and Jordan both got as low as they could, and then Katie was able to jump over. After that, they just had a few simple maneuvers, and they were untangled, leaving them all holding hands in a big circle.

"Excellent job!" said Alex, "I think they are ready for the next step: Low Ropes. What do you think Christen?'"

"I trust your judgement, but they looked like they figured that out pretty quickly to me. Great job ladies!"

"Woo hoo!"

"Same time tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"Works for us."

Christen turned her attention to the group of campers. "Looks like our nature trail project is a go too. You guys ready to start on it?"

"Heck yeah!"

Over at the beach, Tobin and Casey had just got back from bringing Becky and her group out on a canoe paddle. One of boats had tipped over when the kids were getting out. If a boat flipped over, there was 99% chance it happened when people were getting in or out. Tobin had jumped in the water right there because it was the easiest way to get everything back upright.

Dripping wet, paddle vest over her shoulder, Tobin went up into the boat shed to dry off. Taking her towel of the hook, she saw a note fall out of its folds to the ground. Tobin dried off her fingers as best she could, not wanting to ruin the piece of paper, and picked it up.

_Hope you have a wonderful day. xoxo Christen._

It didn't say much, but said a whole lot too. Only a few small words, but a big gesture. Tobin stood there looking at the strip of paper, smiling, for a few moments.

The lifeguard finished drying off and then threw on an extra t-shirt and shorts over her bathing suit. Tobin took the note and taped it to the front of a clipboard, underneath the papers attached to it. _That would be a good place for it_ , she thought, _I won't lose it there_. She grabbed a red lifeguard tube and backboard and headed out the beach. Gaia unit would be coming over for regular swimming soon.

Tobin set up and watched the sections one and two for a while. Some of the kids in section one were trying to catch a frog. Every time one grabbed a hold of it, the reptile would slip free and launch itself up into the air and back into the water. The kids remained persistent, despite their challenge. After the first half of the swim block went by, Sonnet offered to sub in and help out the waterfront staff. Tobin certainly wasn’t going to deny her.

Upon her feet hitting sand, Tobin looked up and noticed Kelley had made herself quite comfortable sitting on the beach. She had her arms slightly behind her, leaning on them, with a smug grin on her face. It occurred to Tobin that Sonnet’s altruistic gesture may have had another motive behind it. Tobin pretended she didn’t see Kelley’s smirk and tried to just walk past.

“Oh Tobin,” Kelley said in a singy songy tone.

Tobin attempted to maneuver herself away from the situation. She didn’t know what dirt Kelley had on her, or what information Kelley as trying to get out of her. All she knew was that she was going to do her best to avoid it.

“Hang on a minute Kelley. I got to go bring this up to the shed.”

“Oh know, you’re not getting away from me,” Kelley said decisively. Realizing Tobin had indeed just continued walking, she jumped and followed.

In the boar shed, Tobin raised her eyebrows, “What do you want Kelley?”

“Oh nothing. I just had an interesting conversation with a Miss Press this morning.”

Tobin smirked confidently. _Oh, so that’s what this is all_ _about_ she thought. _I can deal with this._

“Oh yeah? She say anything worth noting?”

“She went on this amazing date last weekend. That’s what she told me, at least.”

Tobin blushed a little. “Yeah, I thought it was pretty dope too.”

Kelley just sat in the window frame of the building, wiggling her eyebrows rapidly up and down. She wanted more details, Tobin’s perspective.

“I don’t know what more from you want,” Tobin said, “Sounds like you know everything already.”

“Ok, maybe I do. BUT. I did want to ask you one thing. How did this even happen? Like you guys were pretty on the rocks. I know from all the times I’ve forgotten to do the dishes that Christen is a literal angel and can forgive quickly. You though, and I don’t mean anything negative by this, you are more stubborn, unwavering in your views.”

“I don’t know,” said Tobin, “I guess I’m not unwavering in the fact I like hot girls?”

“You did not just say that, Tobin Heath.” Kelley was laughing though.

“But I did.” Kelley rolled her eyes. “No, but seriously,” Tobin continued, “I’ll admit when I am wrong, and Christen, she’s really nice. I genuinely like her, and spending time with her, just talking or whatever. She loves to learn new things, super thoughtful, all that good stuff.” Tobin was thinking of her goodnight kiss and the note.

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Kelley said in a high pitched voice.

“And you know,” Tobin added, “She IS super hot too.”

Kelley gave Tobin a light smack on the upper arm. Tobin just shrugged her shoulders as she walked backwards back out the beach. She was practically saying _well,_ _I’m not wrong_.

At lunch later that day, Christen found herself sitting at the same table as Ali. She was genuinely one of the nicest and kind people Christen had met. Krieger had all the kids go around the table and say what they did that morning. It was neat to hear all the activities everyone was doing. There was so much always happening at camp. It gave Christen a few ideas for future weeks too. This session though, she was plenty busy. The Connecticut girls had no issue coming up with things they wanted to do. Christen wasn’t even sure she could fit in everything.

“How about you, Christen?” asked Ali, “I heard your group is taking on quite the project.”

“Yes we are! Building a nature trail just out there.” Christen pointed outside to where they had been working.

“How is it going so far?”

“We did a lot of the manual labor part this morning, actually making the trail. We uses rakes to move the leaves, shovels to get the top soil and rocks out of the way, and started clipping down the small plants.”

“Wow! Sounds like a lot of work!”

“Yeah, it is. But it’s fun too. Most the trail blazing is done. We can move on to the less physically intense stuff pretty soon.”

Ali went on to talk about how she took some kids to the archery field that morning. Christen had only tried the activity a couple times, but was but eager to try it again. Ali, made it seem like it was a very chill way to spend the morning.

After lunch, the Rosebud unit had their scheduled swim block. The kids in Christen’s group were looking forward to it, as they had been sweating in the summer heat when they were working on their trail. Christen too thought the cool lake would feel good after their labor, so she jumped in too and was convinced to join in a cannon ball contest. She was not even close to winning, but her campers were happy they persuaded her to try.

Tobin stood on the dock barefoot, watching the whole thing, as she was supposed to. She had on red shorts, a white T-shirt, and sunglasses with a blue tint. The whistle on a lanyard around her neck completed the look. Combined with her tan, Christen thought she looked more like a Californian native than a part time Colorado ski bum.

After a bit, Christen decided to just go sit on the dock, feet in the water, near Tobin instead.

“I got your note,” Tobin remarked once Christen had settled.

The counselor looked up at Tobin with a smile and said, “Good.”

The kids swam around in the lake for a while more. Though it had been a beautiful day up to this point, dark clouds started rolling in. A boom of thunder could be heard echoing in the hills.

Tobin blew her whistle. “Alright! Everybody out!”

There was some moaning and groaning among the kids. It hadn’t started raining yet, one noted. They obliged though, and got out reluctantly.

It was amazing how fast these storms could pop up and come roaring over the mountains. One minute it would be as sunny as ever, and then the next, the sky would be dark gray and rain would be coming down in sheets, lightning flashing across the sky. It was part of the summer season. There were always several days where the afternoon heat and humidity broke into thunder storms.

After closing down the beach, the rain had started to sprinkle down. Tobin knew it was only a few more minutes before it would be pouring, so she hurried as fast as she could over to main camp. She figured she herself and Kelley could keep each other busy until the storm passed.

Christen’s and Sam’s groups both went to the arts and crafts building to wait out the rain. Sam’s kids had gotten out the acrylic paints and were painting on construction paper. The girls from Connecticut were hard at work on their service project still. The group was clearly dedicated to the endeavor. They had found a carpentry book with several plans for small bridges, and were designing their own. Christen thought for a moment how much one of her friends in the civil engineering program at Stanford would love this. She made a mental note to tell them all about it when the fall semester started up again.

The one storm ended up being a whole volley of them. Every time the rain seemed to be letting up, a few minutes later a crack of loud lightning would be heard not too distant and the sound of rain on the roof of the building would intensify again. At times it was so loud, the two groups had to almost yell in order to talk among themselves. Towards the end of the duration being trapped inside by the weather, Christen’s group had a definitive plan for their bridge. The younger girls in Sam’s group had helped pick out colors for the placard labels on the trail too.

“It’s great you guys are letting the younger kids help out,” said Christen to her group privately.

“They were curious as to what we were doing,” said Cat, “And I think they wanted to be involved in some way.”

As if on cue, one of the Sam’s kids loudly proclaimed from the other end of the room that they were hungry.

“When is it time for dinner?”

Sam looked at her watch. They had spent most the afternoon in the arts and crafts building, but it was getting almost time for them to head over to the dining hall.

“Do you think it’s letting up?” asked Sam to Christen.

Christen got up and leaned against one of the window stills, staring outside for a moment. It didn’t seem to be raining as hard as it had at certain times before. Suddenly, the outside flashed entirely white and a loud crack shook the building, followed by an echoing boom. Sophia and Jordan had jumped into each other’s arms due to the surprising nature of the sudden noise.

“That was pretty close,” said Christen. She made a ‘yikes’ face to Sam.

Christen picked up the walkie talkie that was docked on one of the counters.

“Christen to main camp.”

“This is Kelley here. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. For the most part. Uh, I don’t think it’s safe for us to be walking around camp outside right now though. Sam and I are at the arts and crafts building. I’m not sure what to do about dinner for the kids though.”

“I was actually just about to call you guys about that. We’re sending people around with delivery from the kitchen.”

“Oh really? That’s sweet.”

“Yeah, and I think I know just who to send to you and Sam. Over and out.”

Christen relayed that information to Sam and the present campers. They seemed to be pretty satisfied with the solution.

“It’s like ordering pizza when you’re at home!” one kid observed.

Not that long after, the sound of a vehicle could be heard pulling up outside the building. Looking outside, it was clear it was Tobin’s orange truck. Two figures stepped out, carrying a couple metal trays covered in aluminum foil. Though Christen assumed one of them was Tobin, it was hard to tell who was who through the rain. She couldn’t identify who the other person was either.

Their steps could be heard stomping up the short set of stairs that led to the door on the side of the building closest to them. The person in an orange poncho flung open the door and stepped inside. Pulling down the hood to their poncho, they were revealed to be Alex. Alex held the door with her back as Tobin stepped in right behind her. Tobin had a bright yellow poncho and her hiking boots were covered in mud, as were Alex’s.

“Out last stop,” said Tobin as she gave the contents in her hand a slight lift upward.

Both Alex and Tobin set their delivery down on one of the tables. They took off their rain ponchos and declared that they would be eating with the groups too.

“What do we got?” asked Midge

“Chicken parm, spaghetti, and salad,” answered Alex.

“And paper plates and plastic utensils,” added Tobin.

“What about dessert?” asked Lynn.

“Is delivery not good enough for you?” said Alex teasing, “We could have let you all starve!”

“Yeah... I guess this is still pretty nice.”

“We may have brought some chocolate chip cookies too though.”

“Yes! My favorite!”

“And they’re vegan!” added Alex, excited about that.

“Oh...”

Tobin grabbed a plate for herself and claimed a seat at one of the tables with benches along the long sides. Katie and Taylor, from Christen’s group, sat across from her.

“Thank you Tobey!” one of them declared.

“No problem at all.”

After grabbing herself some food, one of the little kids in Sam’s group took Christen’s hand and guided her over to where she wanted to sit, which happened to be right in-between Christen and Tobin.

The little kid was ferocious in the way she attacked her spaghetti. Sauce was smeared all over her face, and several noodles dangled off her paper plate and onto the table. About halfway though, she slowed down a little. She looked up at Tobin.

“What do you think buddy?” asked Tobin, “The food good?”

“Yup,” she answered.

The child then looked over at Christen and then, after thinking for a moment, said “You’re my hero.”

Christen grinned. “Oh? Thank you for saying that. Why am I your hero?”

The kid pointed backwards towards Tobin. “You called her and got her to bring the food.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The realities of being in a relationship at a summer camp become clear. Tobin and Christen find it difficult to find time with each other during their busy week.

After the rain subsided and the thunder stopped, Christen brought her group back to Rosebud unit. The clouds cleared just enough to not be a gloomy dark grey. They instead were illuminated in peaceful deep blues as the evening rolled in. Along the trail back to the unit, they encountered a few spots on the paths where puddles had formed. The intense rain just couldn’t be soaked up by the earth as quickly as it fell. One of the kids cautiously stepped in the first puddle they encountered. She then decided it was quite worth it, and started jumping in the puddle more enthusiastically. Water splashed, making the people near her subject to the flinging droplets. 

“Hey this is fun!” she remarked. 

Even though they were into their teens, it seemed the joy of jumping in a puddle was not lost on them. Every one of the girls adjusted their steps so they would go right through the puddles. And of course, they jumped a few times, making for satisfying splashes.

The smiles on the kids, well it made Christen want to try too. She stuck one foot in the next small body of water they encountered. It was only maybe a half inch deep. She then put both feet in, and did a little hop. Hearing the plopping noise of the splash, she could see why the kids were enjoying it so much.

“I can’t remember the last time I splashed in a puddle!” she exclaimed.

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” said Midge.

“Totally.”

They took their time walking back to the unit, and stopped to splash in every puddle. The lower half of all their legs were spotted with dirt and mud, but it was well worth it. As they approached Rosebud, there was one giant puddle out in front of the unit. They were in no rush. It wasn’t like these older girls were out of energy for the day yet, so they lingered a few minutes. A few girls started intentionally splashing each other, and it became a sort of game. 

Tobin came walking down the path. She must have dropped Alex off and returned her truck to main camp, along with the empty containers from dinner. She saw the kids playing in the puddle, and her face lit up with excitement. Tobin practically ran over. Just before she got to the puddle, she made a huge leap, lifting off with both feet. She landed in the middle, the deepest part of the puddle, and sent water flying in every direction. She was up to her ankles in water, but she didn’t care.

“Tobin! Your boots!” Christen said.

“They’re water proof. It’s okay.”

Christen just shook her head. She knew the water proofing would help against rain and a little puddle jumping, but not complete submergence. Somehow, it made sense that this is exactly what Tobin would do regardless. 

It was still too early to send the kids to bed, but there wasn’t enough time to start a new activity either. Becky and her group were already at the unit. She recommended just giving the kids some free time. So that’s what Christen ended up doing. She noticed the last couple nights, they stayed up playing cards anyway, so might as well let them start early. Maybe they would go to bed at decent hour today. A few did end up playing cards by the fire pit, but the others played frisbee out on the grass. The frisbee kids ended up convincing the card kids to join them for hacky sack after a little bit too. With the campers having some free time to entertain themselves, it also meant that Christen had some free time of her own too. She sat on the steps on the front of her tent platform, finishing the friendship bracelet she was making for Kelley.

Tobin noted that it was pretty calm around the unit. She sat on the front of her tent, taking off her wet socks and boots. She didn’t regret her decision though to jump right in. Her footwear was kind of damp from all the running around she had done earlier, delivering food in the rain anyhow. The puddle jumping really didn’t add much water to her boots. After stretching out her toes, she found her gaze was towards the other staff tent. She didn’t even put her boots and socks down, they were still in hand as she walked barefoot on the grass over to where Christen was and sat down next to her on the steps. Christen gave her a side glance and a smile.

“Thought I would join you over here,” Tobin mumbled.

“It is always good to have you around.”

“Who’s that for?” Tobin asked, referring to the friendship bracelet.

“Kelley,” said Christen, “I think it will be done in few minutes too. I’m excited to give it to her.”

Tobin suddenly wished she had something to distract her hands with too. They were getting fidgety. She wanted to set one on Christen’s knee, or shoulder, or push Christen’s hair behind her ear. She knew she couldn’t though, not with the kids around. They were playing hacky sack just out in the middle of the unit. 

After a few moments, Tobin settled herself. She rested an elbow on her knee, and her chin on that same hand. She was hunched over, horrible posture, but it was comfortable for the moment. 

“Kelley is gonna love that,” she remarked, once again referring to the bracelet in progress.

“Can I borrow your wrist?” Christen asked, “I want to make sure it’s long enough.”

Tobin held out her arm to be used as a wrist mannequin. Christen wrapped the bracelet around Tobin’s wrist, confirming it was long enough. Christen’s fingertips on the underside of her wrist sent vibrations up Tobin’s forearm. 

Tobin looked behind her, into the tent, to see if anyone else was there.  
There wasn’t.

“You know,” said Tobin,” I could kiss you right now. I want to kiss you right now.”

“You know we can’t,” said Christen.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m telling you. Cause otherwise I would be doing it.”

Christen leaned in and whispered, “Do you know how hot that sounds, when you say it like that?”

Tobin smirked. “I guess I do now. Mission accomplished. Though I have to say, I’ve made myself a victim.”

Christen locked eyes with Tobin, giving a sultry look. “I promise this weekend we’ll be able to spend some quality time together. It’s only a couple days until then, after all.”

“Yeah,” Tobin said, “We’re both strong, independent women. We should be able to endure.”

Christen tided the final knot of the bracelet she was working on. She checked with Tobin, to ask if it looked good. Tobin approved, so she put in her backpack to give to Kelley the next time she saw her. This left her with nothing to do. She rested her head on the railing that ran up the one side of the steps on the front of the tent. Tobin was barefoot next to her, boots and socks set down next to her, and once, again, she found herself completely enamored my the woman. She was special, that much Christen was sure of. Tobin was so unapologetically herself, uncaring what others thought of her little quirks. More than that, Tobin didn’t seem to be trying at it either. The idea of Tobin putting up a false front to meet the expectations of others was so completely foreign. It didn’t make sense, and it was clear this was how the lifeguard had always conducted herself. Christen suddenly felt extremely grateful to have Tobin. She was just the type of person she needed in her life.

Tobin and Christen talked for about 20 minutes before Lindsey showed up, followed by Becky and Abby shortly after. Though they all lived together in the same unit, it was rare they actually had time to sit and spend time with all together. They were always going from one place to another, in transit. It was good to get the chance to see how everyone was doing, all at once. It was a nice quite, calm, evening for the five of them. Considering the hectic nature of the late afternoon, they were all glad for it. 

Over the next few days, Christen kept herself busy with her camp counselor duties. She took her group to archery, did low ropes with Alex, and went on an around the lake hike. They also did a regular overnight across the lake, having planned their hiking overnight to occur during the second week. It was the first overnight where Christen was the only adult present, but it went pretty smoothly. She was very proud of herself for having executed the activity successfully and independently. Foudy even remarked that she was quickly becoming a “pro” counselor. During all this, the group also found time to work on their service project too. 

Tobin kept herself busy as well. Allie’s group requested to go sailing, and that was always a lot of work to get everything set up and show the kids the basic methods. It was way more complicated than just sticking a paddle in the water. There was also all the regular boating sessions with canoes, kayaks, and rowboats too. Most the units requested a swim block every day, so Tobin had to make lifeguard schedules and rotations. It was never dull being waterfront director, that was for sure. There were moments in-between the busyness, where she wondered what Christen was up to, but usually something came up that demanded her attention instead. She always got to se her a couple times a day, whether it was the morning or evening at the unit, at meals at the dining hall, or when Rosebud had their swim block. She really couldn’t complain too much, though Tobin admittedly, was really looking forward to the weekend where they could sneak off for some time by themselves. 

One of the mornings, they did manage to snag a few minutes after brushing their teeth. It was a combination of them two rising a few minutes early, and everyone else being a little slow to get out of their beds. Christen put her hands around Tobin’s waste, locking them behind the waterfront director’s back. Tobin felt a little tense, wondering if some camper might sneak up on them like that, but she couldn’t find it in herself to tell Christen no either. Luckily, the gamble played out in their favor, and Tobin got a quick kiss without anyone stumbling upon them. She thought on the encounter all day. As did Christen. 

And though the week was enjoyable, it finally came to an end, much to the joy of Tobin and Christen. Quite honestly, the rest of the staff was glad too. The weekends, with a few days of rest, were always appreciated. The kids who stayed over for the weekend was limited to Christen’s girls form Connecticut plus two other younger kids. They kept them all together in one group. After most the kids left, the majority of the staff met for their weekly reflection meeting. While this was occurring, the weekend campers were left under the temporary supervision of Carli, the nurse.

Foudy went over the events of the week, what went well, and what could have been done better. They also did high, lows, and cheers of the week, going around in a circle. Highs were the best part of your week, lows the worst, and cheers where a sort of thank you to someone else. It helped to put everyone on the same page and aided in understanding what everyone else’s roles currently looked like. 

Foudy held up her clip board. She flipped through it, to a page in the middle of the stack of attached papers. She scanned it briefly.

“So it looks like Tobin ad Christen volunteered to be the designated camper supervisors this weekend. As always, don’t leave everything to them, but they are responsible for making sure the campers staying for the weekend have adult supervision.”

Tobin felt her throat drop into her stomach. She had completely forgotten, but yeah, both her and Christen had signed up for the weekend in-between the third and fourth week sessions of camp. She shared a look with Christen, across from her in the circle. It was obvious Christen was having similar feelings in the moment. They were both looking forward to the weekend, and now it had complications. Most the time this role was pretty easy and just required a little coordination, but it was possible that a wrench would be thrown in their plans. Kelley flicked her eyes back in forth between her two friends. She just seemed happy to hear their names in the same sentence, unaware of the thoughts in each of their heads. As it would happen, most the staff decided to celebrate making it halfway through the summer by going out for some burgers and ice cream.

“We’ll bring you guys back some!” said Sonnet, “And fries too!”

Sam added that would all hang out together once they got back as well.

Tobin tried to be happy for her fellow staff and friends, but she also couldn’t help but feel she was missing out on two things. The first being time with Christen where she could freely express her affection, and the second just being time out hanging with her friends. She could have never predicted the turn of events when she volunteered for this weekend, or when she encouraged Christen to sign up for the same weekend, but here they were. Tobin made her way over to the infirmary with Christen to relieve Carli of her child watching duties. She tried to be optimistic. Instead of a fleeting moment in-between activities, which was most of what she had to accept during the week, at least Christen was with her. It didn’t quite work to fully lift her spirits though. 

Christen seemed more at ease, even if she was a little thrown off guard by the reminder of the duties they had voluntarily signed up for. She originally agreed to this weekend because she wanted to spend more time with Tobin, and well, that was what she was getting. How could she be upset about that? 

Christen gathered the group of kids. Most of them being her group, it was kind of fitting they would be with her for the evening. The girls were really happy Tobin was there too. One even went as far to say they were their two favorite counselors they ever had. Christen felt her heart rise. That was awesome to hear. 

One of the kids had the idea to grab some food from the dining hall and have a picnic at one of the units for dinner while everyone else was out. They decided collectively to eat at Tadpole unit, where the fire pit and log benches were lakeside. It would make for a beautiful view. Tobin was quite during the discussion, but seemed amicable to the idea. 

Christen was excited that the kids had picked Tadpole as their destination. The Connecticut girls said they stayed their last year, and the two younger kids were there that week. Though Christen had been to Tadpole unit, she really didn’t spend much time there. It would be good to get to enjoy the space a little more tonight. As they made their way over to the unit, it was noticeable to Christen that Tobin was lagging behind the group though. It was obvious she didn’t share the same enthusiasm Christen had found. 

The counselor slowed her pace so she could talk discretely to Tobin. “Hey, is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I guess so. I just forgot we signed up for this. And then we got stuck with actually doing it tonight. I was looking forward to this weekend.”

“Me too, but we are still together, right?” She was seeing the bright side of things.

Tobin gave a sheepish smile. She didn’t want Christen to think she was by any means disappointed they were spending time together, even if it was not how she envisioned it. 

“You’re right,” said Tobin, “It’s just... I can’t shake this feeling that there are better ways we could be spending this time. I know it’s stupid.”

“It’s not,” said Christen. She paused so Tobin would look at her. “It’s not stupid at all that you feel that way. Sometimes emotions don’t make logical sense. They are emotions, and that’s just what they do sometimes.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Tobin protested, “The facts are the facts. I should be grateful I can see you right now. I want to be grateful. I just want to enjoy it. But for some stupid reason... I’m a little sad and it’s preventing me from enjoying it.”

Upon hearing Tobin say she was bit sad, Christen just wanted to wrap her arms around Tobin. Hold her in tight, and let the woman rest into her shoulder. She had to use her words instead though.

“Tobin, it’s okay that you feel that way. I mean this as sincerely as possible, don’t beat yourself up over this or try to force yourself to be happy when you’re not. It won’t upset me at all, and more importantly, it’s better for you.”

“How can you say that?” Tobin asked, “How can you be okay knowing that I’m not thrilled, even when we are with each other?”

“Because I know it’s not about me. I know that. I would love to be out on a date with you, or with everyone else getting burgers, just like you do. So I’m fine that you feel something about it. It’s been great so far that we tend to be on the same page, but that won’t be reality all the time. We just have to communicate that to each other and be honest.”

Tobin thought about her past relationships. They all started out intense, and magical. And then, as time passed, the subtle differences tended to splinter and fracture the connection. She, for a second, saw that happening with Christen too. The past tends to repeat itself. But Christen’s words processed. She was talking about how it was okay to be on different pages sometimes.

“So...” Tobin began, still thinking on her words. A small paradigm shift was happing, and that oftentimes took some thought. “You’re saying that be being a little upset doesn’t bother you? That you’re not mad at me?”

“No, no way. In fact it’s kind of flattering you’re so bummed about not being able to take me out. I mean I am a little bummed too, but you, well I can tell without asking.”

“Hmm,” said Tobin, acknowledging her demeanor, “Well I am... disappointed... I’m not gonna try to be deceptive, but I will try to be a little more upbeat for the kids. I think I can manage that.”

“That’s a good perspective,” said Christen. She paused for a moment before adding, “And how do you feel about me? I’m wouldn’t say I’m satisfied with how things played out this evening, but I wouldn’t say I’m as disappointed as you are. Is that something you understand? I don’t want you to be mad at me for not feeling exactly the same way as you.”

“No,” said Tobin, “I get that. I mean, I think I saw that you were okay, and it only made me feel more disappointed in myself for being down. I wasn’t for one second ever going to be upset with you for being okay. I swear that. It was all me, not you.”

“But you know I’m okay with how you feel? And you can be okay with it too?” It was a reiteration of previous points, but Christen wanted to makes sure, to be thorough. 

“No, yeah, I get that. I think we are at a good understanding right now. This really was a good talk. And just having this conversation, it does makes me feel a little better too.”

“Sweet,” said Christen, “Let’s just do this. Maybe we’ll find a little fun too.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Christen FINALLY get some time that allows them to go on a date and spend time alone together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry It's been a fair bit since I last posted. This chapter is the longest I've written so far for this story, so hopefully that makes up for it :) Life has been... quite chaotic for all of us. Fair warning, there is a pretty heavy make out session in this chapter. Enjoy!

The picnic dinner down at Tadpole unit turned out to be not that bad. Tobin hadn’t really payed attention to what the campers had grabbed from the kitchen refrigerator, but as they spread everything out on the table, it become evident they had brought anything and everything labeled as leftovers. 

“What are we gonna do with all this?” asked one of the two younger kids.

“Just you wait and see!” said Katie as she whipped a roll of tin foil up into the air, wielding it like a sword. 

Jane grabbed the roll of foil’s edge and pulled of a square piece. “We’re gonna make foil dinners!”

“How do you make them?”

“Easy. Just put whatever you want in the foil, wrap it up, and put it in the fire!”

Lyn, Jordan, and Taylor were collecting firewood and had already amassed a decent supply. Sophia has grabbed some tinder and was getting it set up to light the fire. Cat decided to distract her though. She took a bundle of tiny sticks and stood on them.

“Hey guys,” she said, “Look, I’m ON tinder.”

“Oh my god, I hate you,” said Sophia. She couldn’t hide her smile, though it was definitely more at Cat being for making the dumb pun, than at the pun itself. Cat laughed at her own joke, clearly satisfied with own cleverness. 

“Do you know what tinder is?” asked one of the older kids to Tobin. It was sometimes funny how the kids, associating the counselors as sources of authority, forgot that though they were adults, most the camp staff really was still pretty young. That they weren’t as naive about newer things like their teachers and parents. 

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. I’m wondering how you guys have heard of it though. You guys are way too young to even be thinking about dating.”

“You sound like my dad!” Katie said with a laugh, “I’m 15 though, I can date if I want to. Though when I’m old enough, I want to be on Bachelorette.”

“Ugh,” Sophia complained, “That show is so fake! I don’t know how you watch it.”

“I don’t care if it’s fake. It’s entertaining!”

With the conversation now on the television show, Tobin thought the conversation had been steered away successfully. She was wrong. 

“I bet Tobin gets all the swipes on Tinder.”

Tobin sighed, making it obvious this was not her preferred conversation topic. “Nope. Don’t have to.”

There was collective “OooOOoooh” between the two girls. 

“So then... you have someone... special in your life?”

“Oh my god I am not doing this. You guys don’t need to know.”

“Oh! So there is! Tell us all about them, please, please, please!”

Tobin looked a bit overwhelmed. Christen was overhearing everything, and found it a bit amusing. She sent a smirk Tobin’s way. 

“Well... I guess...” Tobin began, “She’s beautiful. Very cool. And one of the most awesome people I’ve ever met.”

“You have to tell us more.”

“Nope.”

“What’s her name?”

“No.”

“How did you meet?”

“No.”

“Does she love camp?”

“Well, I wouldn’t like someone who didn’t.”

“Aha!” one of kids exclaimed, “That must mean they work here too!”

Upon hearing that, every muscle in Christen’s body froze for a second. How were these kids figuring everything out? 

Tobin knew what to do though. She just laughed out loud. “You guys are full of it. No more questions okay?”

“I bet its Kelley,” said one of the campers.

“No, no, no,” Tobin protested.

“Oh it’s definitely Kelley,” another noted, clearly convinced. 

Tobin waved her hand, brushing them off. “You guys better get to work on your fire if you ever want to eat.”

Sophia obliged and grabbed the box of matches next to her. She struck one on the side of the box, and the end burst into flames with a hiss. She stuck it into the pile of twigs centered in the fire pit, and the flame grew into a blaze. 

“One match fire!” she exclaimed, proud of herself. 

The others added larger sticks. As they waited for the wood to burn down into coals, they got their foil dinners ready. 

One of the younger kids put mashed potatoes, hot dogs, pickles, and one square of chocolate into their foil dinner. 

“Are you... sure... that’s what you want to put in there?” Christen asked.

“Yes! All my favorites!”

Much to Christen’s surprise, the kid actually ate the concoction after it was cooked. Everyone else made normal meals. It was much like picking out leftovers from your refrigerator and microwaving them. Only here in the woods, you used a fire instead to warm them up.

The two younger kids decided they wanted to do skits by the fire. Their stories were erratic. They would introduce one character, then it never came back for the rest of the skit. A couple skits later it would reappear in a completely different storyline. Tobin was sat in a bed of last year’s fallen pine needles, lounged against a log. She watched one of the kids stop and look up to sky in thought as she made up the plot of her skit on the fly. At first, the older girls were disinterested, only half of them paying attention to the two younger kids. As the never ending entertainment continued, they found themselves laughing at the ridiculousness. Then, they stepped in to give a little direction, and found themselves cast in roles too. It was an ongoing rotation of some of them as cheering fans, and the other as improvising actors. 

“Hmm maybe I should have done that,” said Tobin, under her breath. She was considering that the younger kids doing the skits were pretty aimless in their performances, that is until the other girls stepped in. 

“You have to admit,” said Christen, by her side, “It was pretty funny though, what they were coming up with.”

“Yeah, yeah.” A small smile drew up on the corners of Tobin’s face.

Christen told the group that if they cleaned up, she had a surprise for them. They badgered her, trying to figure out the secret, but she insisted the more questions they asked, the longer it would be before they found out. They gave up and worked pretty quickly to get everything they brought over to the fire packed up. Christen pulled her backpack in front of her and dug into it. She pulled out a half-eaten bag of marshmallows. Along with it came a box of graham crackers and a few chocolate bars. 

“Smores!” one girl said excitedly. The idea of the classic camping snack took all the attention of the kids. It was like Tobin and Christen weren’t even there, which is what Christen was hoping for. 

“That was slick,” said Tobin as Christen sat down next to her, legs half curled under her own body.

“They deserve it.”

“Yeah? They give you an incredible week?”

“Well, yes. But even if they didn’t, I think along as they didn’t make it hell, they deserve it. We need more reward in life for just being decent people.”

“It should be more normal though. Like, you shouldn’t expect praise for just being a good person.”

“You’re right. But why not give people more joy in life when you can?”

“Huh. Yeah. I like that.”

Tobin took out her water bottle. The clear plastic was tinted yellow. It glowed bright with the flicker of the fire. She took a sip, trying to keep her attention on the skit, but failing spectacularly. Christen didn’t make it easy, as she reached for the brow of Tobin’s hat. She picked it up, spun it around and placed it back on Tobin’s head. 

“You like it that way?” Tobin asked.

“No shadows on your face. I can see it better.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that.”

Christen shifted her position slightly. “So how are you feeling?”

Tobin shrugged her shoulders, but cracked a smile nevertheless. Christen was looking at her like she was the Helen of Coldwood, and it was hard not to feel good about that.

“I guess it hasn’t been so bad,” Tobin admitted, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, still wishing for something else, but these guys aren’t too shabby.” Tobin pointed for a second to the kids, who had incorporated flaming marshmallows into their skits now. One held their fiery treat on a stick aloft like a torch, reciting the poem inscribed at the base of the statue of liberty.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled massed yearning to be free!

She held a folder in her other hand, imitating how the statue also held a tablet in her left hand too.

“There’s always tomorrow, too,” Tobin added. 

As it would turn out, the next day was the most hectic Saturday they had so far. Ashlyn and Ali were going to get take the kids in the morning to do archery, but then a pipe under the sink in the kitchen broke and started erupting water like it was a raging rapid coming out around a half-submerged boulder. Ashlyn had the know how in order to fix it, and thus was the best person to tackle the urgent issue. Tobin was recruited to help as well. It ended up taking almost all morning to repair the piping and stop the gushing water. In the afternoon things seemed to be going better. The kids were gathered up at the beach where they could spend their time swimming, boating, or building sand castles. Tobin and Christen were just about to sneak away when Moe fell to her knees and passed out. Apparently she had not been hydrating properly, and the hot sun had gotten to her in the form of heat exhaustion. Though Tobin had been frustrated since the night before, the universe taunting them was starting to get to Christen too. 

“It’s okay babe,” whispered Tobin to Christen, “We got tonight.”

The two ran off to deal with the chaos, each taking a different role, doing what was needed at the time. Tobin and Alex brought the kids somewhere else and Christen radioed for help while Julie got Moe to drink some water. 

It being well into the afternoon, most the day was gone, but the couple finally got everything situated and were able to go off to their own free time. They wandered slowly back to Rosebud. The full past week, plus the last 24 hours were taking their toll.

“I’m beat,” said Tobin.

“Me too. Ugh, I don’t even feel like doing anything but laying in the sun and taking a nap.”

There was a glance between the two. 

“I know you had plans,” said Tobin, “You told me to dress up nice.”

“But you don’t feel up to showering and getting ready,” Christen finished. She seemed to agree. 

Tobin laughed, “Yeah, me too.”

“I feel bad. You did such a nice job last week. I wanted you to have something nice too.” 

“Where were you gonna take me?”

“Narook’s Noodlery.”

“Oooh, damn that place is fancy.”

“Yeah, I know. I thought it would be fun, to dress up, not be in camp clothes and go out. Ali suggested it.”

“Do you still want to go?”

“Yes and no? It’s like I want to go, but don’t have the energy to. Does any place do delivery here?” Christen joked.

“Haha, no. I think it’s a bit too far.” Tobin paused while she thought. An idea was springing into her head. Christen loved the way she looked when she was in one of these moments. “Maybe we can motivate ourselves?”

“How so?”

Tobin bit her lip, “Well, we wouldn’t have to rush so much if we showered at the same time.”

Christen half caught Tobin’s drift. “Tobin, you know there’s multiple stalls. That wouldn’t save any time...” The Californian stopped herself when she saw the way Tobin was looking at her. Straight forward logic wasn’t always the solution to every problem. 

“I mean... we don’t have to...” Tobin began.

Christen put her fingers on Tobin’s lips to quiet her. “I’ll get my bag.” The lifeguard couldn’t contain her galaxy sized grin. 

The shower house had no roof. It was open to the sky. The sunlight fell on you, through the green leaves of the trees, along with the warm water. Tobin seemed to jump out of her clothes and under the water in a few seconds. Christen was by no means slow compared to most people, but perhaps was compared to her companion. When she was ready, she pushed the curtain aside and stepped in. The water quickly flattened out her curls. Tobin had already ran a bar of soap across her body, the foam lathered up on her skin. She stopped for a moment to take in Christen. She didn’t hide the fact her eyes wandered from foot to head, finally settling on the earthy green eyes. 

“You’re so beautiful.”

Christen allowed a grin with a pinch of smugness. Besides the night they went skinny dipping, in which you couldn’t really see much of anything anyhow, this was the first time they saw each other naked. Christen took a long look over Tobin too. The foam from the soap on Tobin’s collarbone caught her attention. Tobin ran her washcloth over her shoulders and upper arms a few times, knowing it was catching Christen’s gaze. The Californian met Tobin’s eyes.

“I know what you are doing.”

Tobin just kept at it, reaching around her head to get her upper back with the soap. It stretched out her triceps. 

“We do have to actually get ourselves clean and washed up.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Tobin said. Christen gave her a playful punch, and Tobin’s serious tone broke into laughter. 

Christen grabbed her own body wash and quickly lathered up. Tobin dumped a small puddle of shampoo on her own head, but was slow in her efforts to run it through her hair. She was understandably, a little distracted. Christen took it upon herself to help out her girlfriend, running her fingers behind Tobin’s ear, digging deep into the thick hair, pushing the soap through the brown waves. It only seemed the natural that their lips ended up on each other. Christen traced Tobin’s jawline with the knuckles on her first and second fingers. The layer of water in-between them, as thin as it was, was still somehow too much. Deep down, there was a want for the heat of skin-on-skin. Tobin let her fingers rest lightly at Christen’s hips. 

Christen took her conditioner, and in Tobin’s held out palm, coaxed out the portion she wanted. It was Tobin’s turn to run her fingers through Christen’s hair. She used both hands, starting at Christen’s temples, running her fingers to the back of Christen’s skull, then working towards the center with the same motion. The hair product, it made Christen’s hair so silky and soft, and Tobin very much enjoyed spreading the smoothness from root to tip.

The last of soap and conditioner was being washed out. All they had to do was wait, helping to speed up the process by splashing water with their hands. But it also gave them a bit of a time to indulge in each other’s company for a few minutes. Tobin had one hand clutched at the top of Christen’s face, framing her right eye, keeping the hair from falling over her eyes. She gave a quick kiss just under her hand, where Christen’s jawline ended. The Stanford student gave a deep, but not sharp, breath. She demanded Tobin’s mouth turn its attention back to her own lips. She also ran her hand across Tobin’s upper back, and up into her neck, grabbing at the wet hair that lay there. She might have gripped a little too strongly.

“Ow,” Tobin said, pulling away.

“Sorry,” Christen said.

Tobin couldn’t resist teasing, “You know if you’re into that, its fine, just give me a heads up next time.”

Christen pretended to not be amused, but she was no good at it. “We should get out of here,” she said referring to the shower. 

Tobin mainly had clothes more suited towards a day out on the lake then fine dining, but she found something suitable in her bags. Christen had figured that being way up in the middle of the mountains, they probably didn’t have to get too dressed up anyhow. When Tobin questioned, she suggested a clean pair of pants and a nice shirt, that’s all. So that’s what Tobin wore. She mainly had T-shirts, but she did find a particularly nice one that fit super well and didn’t have any blaring logos on it. Christen admired the way it hung on Tobin’s shoulders, while she herself wore a sundress. The floral patterns and colors complimented her well. Tobin liked the way it was light and had a flow to it when Christen walked. It gave fraction of a second hints of the beautiful legs hiding within. 

The two of them were freshly clean, spick and span, and dressed for their evening out. They hopped into Tobin’s truck and were on their way into town. When they got far enough up the road for cell service, Christen called the restaurant to make sure they had a table. The place was the only upscale dining option in a 50 mile radius, and it was a Saturday during peak season, so Christen wanted to make sure they could get in. 

When she was off the call, Tobin remarked, “You know, this is our first real date.”

“No it’s not. You planned that whole sunset rowboat thing.”

“Yeah, but this is legit.”

Christen wasn’t going to argue. If anything, this was their first full date after officially becoming a couple. That had to count for something.

Tobin knew exactly where to go. It was a one road town after all. You could drive the length of it, down the main route than ran through, and practically see everything worth noting. Tobin pulled her orange truck into the parking lot at the restaurant, without having received even one direction instruction. Besides the smallness of the town, she also had passed by this joint quite a few times and was aware of its existence. 

Dinner was quite good. Christen insisted that they order whatever they wanted, it was her treat. Tobin had the inkling that Christen wasn’t kidding, but still made sure she ordered something at the median of the price range. Still, it was becoming more and more obvious that Christen had access to more funds than most. It sat at the back of her mind for moment, but dissipated quickly, to be stored indefinitely for some later time. Her girlfriend’s smile could do that. Christen took one of Tobin’s hands and rubbed it in-between her thumb and forefinger. She was just glad they were there, that they had made it. The food was delicious, as was the atmosphere. They sat outside on a patio that overlooked the small lake that the town called its shores home. There were a few people out for evening on paddle boards. Some had probably rented from the outing store a few shops down, or might have launched their own from the beach. Tobin loved watching them. To her, paddle boarding was the most relaxing of on the lake activities. There was no pressure to go all around. It was just meant as a way to relax out on the water. They had few at camp, and they were sufficient, but she couldn’t help but dream of more. That’s what dreams were for, after all. She also dreamed a lot about Christen. It still felt half like a dream that she was actually here with her on a fancy date. 

After dinner they hopped back into Tobin’s truck. At the suggestion of the lifeguard, they drove up and down through town, hitting all the small side streets too. There was this energy the place gave off, that everyone knew each other and had everyone else’s best interests at heart. They might not always agree, but there was genuinity in all their presence.

“Do you ever think you could live in small town like this?” Tobin asked.

“I don’t know. Where I grew up, it was always so much busier. The quietness to it, how easygoing everyone is, that might be nice. Is your hometown like this?”

“No I grew up in the suburbs. Still a lot going on, everyone in the rat race. Sometimes I think I would like living in a place where everybody knows you, but then other times I’m sure I would miss the spontaneity and opportunity of being somewhere... a little more developed.”

“There’s a whole life ahead of you. You don’t have to live in one place your entire life. Maybe you’ll end up trying both?”

“True. Hardly anyone stays in one place anymore. Trying stuff out, that’s the best way to see what you like too.”

Tobin brought the steering wheel around, sending her truck onto a right hand turn headed back to the direction of camp. The windows were down, letting the summer air flow through the cab. The radio had been set to low volume, but she clicked it completely off. All you could hear was the sounds of the vehicle and crickets chirping in the just fallen nighttime. The bumpy roads rocked the cab every now and then, and the windy roads demanded the travelers put in a little effort to not slide around on the bench seat. Christen reached across the space separating them and placed a hand on Tobin’s thigh. She was hoping to catch a glance from Tobin, and she did. No words had to be spoken. There was just contentment. The long work week, it all seemed worth getting through it for a night like this. They were both tired, but it wasn’t exhaustion. It was the calmness of satisfaction knowing a job was well done, that restlessness had been fulfilled. It was the kind of feeling that made you just want to be with your person but doing nothing at all, because that was all you could ever want or need. 

The truck rolled into camp and came to a stop where Tobin usually left it parked. She left the engine idling for moment, headlights lighting up the forest beyond. Tobin finally met the gaze that had been locked on her for the entire drive in. Neither made a move to exit the truck. The last 20 minutes were too good, neither wanted their journey to end yet. 

Tobin patted her leg on top of where Christen’s hand was still laid. “Come here,” she said, barely above a whisper. 

There was a quiet moment, perhaps only a second or two, where Christen was still, processing Tobin’s request. She then moved to unbuckle her seatbelt. As she did, Tobin did so too and also turned the key in the ignition, killing the low rumble of her truck’s engine. The only sounds were that of the forest and the distinct zipping of a seat belt retracting. The headlights faded to darkness too. Christen slid over, sitting as close as possible to her girlfriend. She moved her left hand from the top of Tobin’s thigh up across her shoulder and around to the backside of Tobin’s head. Her hair had that fresh clean feel to it, lovely to run your fingers through, and Christen did take a moment with the baby hairs at the top of Tobin’s neck. Christen’s other hand now took the spot on Tobin’s thigh the other one had left. 

Tobin felt the gentle pull of Christen’s hand on her neck. She wanted her close too, so she wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. She had to twist herself a little bit to make it comfortable, but Christen worked with her. She obliged in Christen’s pull, and brought the Californian in close as their faces drifted towards one another. 

Their noses were just barely touching, lips barely a centimeter apart, but Tobin stopped. She felt the warmth of Christen’s exhalation. One breath, two breaths, three.

“Are you okay?” Christen asked.

Tobin didn’t even know why she had stopped. She wasn’t used to this much happiness. “Yeah, I guess you’ve just bewitched me. It’s like I can’t even think properly when you’re on my mind.”

Christen let out a soft laugh. She was silently pretty proud to be able to do that Tobin. It was nice knowing that the strong feelings she had for the woman were reciprocated. 

“You don’t need to think,” said Christen. She placed a soft kiss on Tobin’s right cheek, then her left. It reminded Tobin what she wanted, so she turned her head slightly so that her lips met Christen’s. Christen’s lips were soft, reminded her of rose petals. Tobin for a half second felt a ping of embarrassment, realizing hers were probably a bit chapped. Christen pushed deeper into the kiss, and Tobin realized Christen hadn’t seemed to care at all in any of their kisses. In actuality, Christen kind of liked the way Tobin’s lips felt. They were by no means rough, still gentle and delicate, but they had character too. Christen imagined them running across her jawline, her neck, and suddenly there was nothing she wanted more in the world.

She pulled away slightly, and brought two fingers to her mouth. She then traced the path she wanted followed. Tobin understood, and moved her right hand up to the space behind Christen’s head. The Californian brought her hand down and wrapped it around Tobin’s midriff. They had essentially switched the positions they were holding each other in. Tobin followed the path Christen had laid out, planting easy kisses along it, dragging her lips ever so slightly along Christen’s skin as she moved from one spot to the next. She went slowly, and she could feel Christen’s heart rate increase the further along she got. Tobin finally got to the collarbone, and Christen could not contain a tiny whimper. 

Their mouths met again. This time the kiss was more dynamic. After a few minutes, Christen pulled away. She twisted her abdomen, stretching it out. 

“We need to get out of this truck,” Tobin said. She too, felt there were more comfortable places to be spending their time.

They hopped out. Tobin spun her keys on her finger, causing them to jingle in the night. Unfortunately, they spun right off her finger and into the dark. 

“Oh shit,” she said.

“What?” asked Christen.

“I dropped my keys.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Tobin said dejectedly. 

“Haha, it’s okay babe. We’ll find them.”

Tobin told Christen there was a flashlight in the glove compartment of the truck, and Christen dug around and found it. Once they had that, it made searching a lot easier. Tobin raked her foot through the grass trying to see if was hidden under the overgrown plants. After few minutes, Christen spotted where the keys had fallen, just under the truck.

“Aha! There they are!” 

Tobin reached down and grabbed them. “Sweet,” she said, “Now back to business.”

Looking around main camp, they could see lights through the trees coming from Crikside. That meant there were people there. And though they loved their friends dearly, it was neither’s number one choice to be hanging out with them right now. 

Tobin scanned the area, assessing each building. No one was in the office, but that seemed just wrong. The infirmary looked dark, but Carli was probably in there somewhere. There probably wasn’t anyone in the dining hall, but who knew who would wander in for a late night snack. She briefly considered that they may have had to wander further than main camp. She was already impatient to get back to making out with Christen, and the time looking for keys only increased that. She didn’t really want to go any further than the main area of Coldwood. That’s when Tobin saw it though. Ah, yes, that will do. She took Christen’s hand and started leading the way.

“Where are we going?” Christen asked after a moment of being dragged along.

Tobin didn’t answer, as they were practically there already. She jutted right and up onto the step leading up to the Program Shed.

“Really?” Christen asked.

“It’s perfect. No one will bother us here. Unless you don’t mind making out with me in the middle of a field.”

Christen laughed, “Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad to me.”

“Hmmph,” said Tobin with a grin, “I’ll keep that noted.”

They slipped inside, making careful to not let the door slam, but easing it back into place. Moonlight shined through the windows, no trees to block it. It illuminated the space in a calm light. Tobin leaned against a wooden table, her butt resting on it, hands behind her also resting on the top surface. Christen, in her dress, illuminated in the white light, looked like a primeval deity. Tobin didn’t have to tell Christen how beautiful she thought she looked, the way her jaw clenched said all it needed too. Tobin watched Christen take the few steps in between them, letting the woman come to her on her own terms. When she was close enough, Christen took Tobin’s hips in her hands. Tobin did the same, and she felt herself shift slightly backwards. Christen wanted her as close as possible, and she held her forward. Tobin adjusted slightly to accommodate. She felt Christen’s hands lift from her sides and come to rest on her biceps. 

“God, you’re so fucking in shape,” Christen said. She let her fingers slide on Tobin’s upper arms. “How do you do it?”

Tobin shrugged. “Physical jobs. This, and working on the mountain in the winter. Plus in the weeks between seasons I get restless when I don’t have anything to do. A good workout fills the time.” Tobin flexed her muscles, showing off a bit. Christen gave the taught biceps a slight squeeze, testing their firmness. The lifeguard slid one hand down a bit further from Christen’s waist and gave her bottom a similar squeeze. “You know, you are quite the looker yourself,” Tobin added.

The time for words had passed. They had done plenty of talking at dinner, and now it was time to communicate in other ways. Tobin wrapped her arms tightly around Christen’s middle, pulling her in as their heads met. Christen cupped Tobin’s face on either side, pulling the woman’s head up to her from her leisured position. Their bodies, their cores were pressing against each other. With one arm wrapped almost fully around the counselor, Tobin used her left to fumble under the edge of the table she was leaned against. She struggled a moment, then took a break from Christen to lean forward and take a peak. Christen narrowed her eyebrows, unsure of what Tobin had been distracted by. The lifeguard found what she wanted, what she knew was there though. She pulled out a bench and placed it where she could sit and still lean her back against the table behind her. She lowered herself down, one hand on the front edge of the bench, and the other still on Christen sliding down the side of her thigh. The bench was made to accommodate children, so it was lower to the ground than most, but still quite wide across. Tobin spread her legs out stretching them across the floor of the building. Her upper back and shoulders were slightly reclined, resting on the thick frame of the table behind her. 

Christen was still standing over Tobin, looking down at her. She wasn’t sure what exactly Tobin’s intent was in where the two of them should end up spatially. She contemplated resting on Tobin with her legs folded to the side. Tobin looked up at her with a smile full of pure bliss. Christen realized it didn’t matter to Tobin at all what she did, as long as she was here with her. Christen’s dress was quite flowy, but she still had to lift it somewhat so she could straddle the other woman. She settled on Tobin’s thighs, one leg on either side of the lifeguard. Tobin noticed that her own body took a few unconsciously short breaths. There was heat between them. 

Tobin’s hands moved back to Christen’s waist. She allowed them to explore more freely. There was only the thin fabric of the dress that separated Tobin’s fingers from Christen’s abdomen.

“You have the perfect body,” she mumbled in between kisses. She let one hand shift down to the outer side of Christen’s thigh, near where it met her butt. Tobin found her partner’s curves intoxicating. 

Feeling Tobin’s hands on her like that, Christen felt indescribably desirable. She wanted Tobin to feel that too, to know. Her fingers danced at the edge of Tobin’s shirt. Part of it was her own hesitance, wondering if it would be too forward to slide her hands under. It seemed a bit silly considering what Tobin was currently doing, but somehow the prospective lack of fabric separating their touch seemed to change the aura of the action just enough to second guess. Part of it was also to give Tobin fair warning. The lifeguard heaved her chest, really her entire torso, to push into where Christen’s fingers lingered. It was her way of telling Christen to go for it, that in fact she wanted to feel the Californian’s fingers run along her abdomen. 

Christen let her hand slide to where it wanted to be, up underneath Tobin’s shirt. Her hands were a bit colder than the fabric that had previously rested against Tobin’s skin, and her abs tightened for a second at the slight shock. Christen paused, but felt Tobin’s breath return to a steady rate again. She kind of loved how it felt when Tobin’s abs clenched like that though. She ran her fingers up and down Tobin’s stomach, admiring her taught body. Each time she pressed a bit farther, having started with barely a graze. She wanted to feel Tobin’s abs flex again, this time for real. She pushed one hand up further. Tobin’s shirt had now ridden all the way up to just under her breasts. Christen once again let her fingers dance at the edge a piece of fabric, inkling to get under. Tobin locked eyes with her, making no protest whatsoever. Christen did as they both wished, and pushed her hand up under the sports bra. 

It worked as Christen had intended. Tobin’s whole stomach tightened in a short breath. With her other hand, Christen felt her woman’s abs clench hard and fully. A soft moan escaped Tobin’s lips.

She then joked, “You know, if I knew you were gonna do that, I would worn something nicer,” referring to the sports bra. 

“There’s nothing nicer than this.” Christen brought her one hand back down so both were on Tobin’s stomach again. She let them linger for a moment before sending the other one back up the opposite side. 

Tobin herself was getting restless. She very much enjoyed Christen’s touch, but she was also a tad envious of the other woman. She wanted to touch, to feel Christen the way she was, without a layer of clothing in-between. She searched for the edge of Christen’s dress, found it, but ran into the problem that some of the clothing was pinned between the two. Christen noticed the absence of Tobin’s touch, and adjusted for a moment to give Tobin what she wanted. Tobin’s hands raced up the sides of Christen’s bare legs, past the cotton of her underwear, and back to where they had been minutes before, at Christen’s ribs. It crossed the lifeguard’s mind that Christen’s bare legs were sitting on her lap right now, only her own jeans separating their skin. Tobin let her head fall to Christen’s chest, one ear down. As her fingers slid magically further up Christen’s ribcage, she could both feel and hear the woman’s breathing grow short and rapid. She lifted her head back up, and let her hands slide along the bottom strap of Christen’s bra. Her hands met in the middle of the woman’s back. Christen kissed her harder than any time before as Tobin released the clasp. As fast as starlight, Tobin’s hands were at the front again. She was greedier than Christen, using both. Her touch, the way she pushed and pulled at the flesh sent Christen to a different mental place. She had to be still, resting her forehead on Tobin’s. Tobin gave her a small peck on the corner of her mouth, but not relenting her contact. Christen settled into it, and awoke back to the moment again. 

The kissing and the adoration of each other’s bodies continued for a bit longer. The night was catching up to them though. 

“I’m tired, my love,” said Christen.

“My love. My love. My love. I very much like the way that sounds.” Tobin’s eyes dropped a moment, a twinge of post action shyness about what she had just said. They returned to Christen’s eyes, ever so magnetic. “Yeah, me too. Let’s get out of here.”

They fixed their clothing. Christen slipped her bra fully free though, not wanting to refasten it so late into the evening. It would have been pointless since they were headed for bed anyhow. Despite the time she had spent, Tobin still couldn’t help but sneak a few glances in the dark where the thin dress hung on Christen’s chest. The Californian noticed though, and slipped the free bra into Tobin’s palm. 

“Your treat,” she said.

Tobin nearly choked as a lump rose in her throat. She felt lightheaded for a second, but in a good way. In that same second, she sent a silent prayer to an unknown figure, asking them for the strength to withhold herself from grabbing Christen and tearing her dress of right then and there. She managed a weak, “Wait... really?”

Christen giggled, “Only for the walk back. I really only have a couple bras I really like here, and that’s one of them.”

Tobin laughed, “Understandable.”

As they walked back through the dark to Rosebud, there was pang of quietness between the two. Neither really wanted to end their time together. 

“You know,” said Christen, “Maybe we could just grab a few things, and go somewhere else for the night? I’m not implying anything else. I kind of just want to be... near you.”

Tobin recalled that sleeping in each other arms wasn’t new for them. “Yeah I heard it might get a little cold tonight,” she said with a tint of sarcasm. They both knew they were in the middle of a heat wave. “We better make sure to have each other to keep up warm.” 

It wasn’t like they could both hop into one of their normal beds. Even as innocent as their intentions were, they would never hear the end of it from their tent mates. 

“Do you have any ideas?” Christen asked.

“One of the units we aren’t using right now should work. They all have tents and beds.”

They grabbed a few things quietly from Rosebud unit. Some people were still out and about for the night, not to be seen, while others were fast asleep. Tobin and Christen were in and out without disturbing anyone in just a few minutes. 

Tobin led the way to an old, smaller unit called Desert Sands. It was a bit sandier than the other units, but the name was still quite the over statement in terms of description. The beds and mattresses were still in the unit house, not set up in the several canvas tents. Bed frames weren’t actually necessary. Some people actually preferred to not have them, as they could be quite noisy at times with the squeaking of the springs. The couple opted to go the no frame route tonight themselves. They each grabbed a mattress and laid them side by side in their selected tent. Tobin rolled up the flaps opposite the side closest to the trail, letting in the moonlight. Sleeping bags weren’t really necessary, so Christen set up their little makeshift bed with two pillows and an oversized blanket. They changed into their pajamas, Tobin in a tank top and athletic shorts, and Christen in a big T-shirt and underwear. Under the covers, they wrapped their arms around each other. Chest to chest with Tobin, legs intertwined, Christen had never been more comfortable sleeping out in the woods. They whispered goodnights to each other, and shared a tame goodnight kiss. Christen was already quite sleepy, and didn’t protest when Tobin shifted so Christen’s head ended up on her chest. She absentmindedly played with some of Christen’s curls as she laid on her back, arm half under Christen’s side. With every single one of her own breaths, she felt the slight weight of Christen’s hand on her ribcage. She kept thinking over and over how amazing the idea of falling asleep in Christen’s arms was. She wondered how many other nights would be exactly like this. Her mind raced way ahead of her, and she had to tell herself to take it easy. The peace she felt in that moment made it easy to drift off to sleep though. 

Tobin awoke first in the morning. Christen was a bonafide early riser, but the light of the day had brought Tobin to consciousness before her. They were still in the same positions they had fallen asleep in. Tobin made a genuine effort not to move, her eyes scanning around as her mind fired back up. The units always looked so different in the daylight than at night. It had been awhile since she had ventured over to Desert Sands, and she took a few moments to recommit its features to her memory. 

Tobin felt Christen stir as the woman woke up too. Tobin turned her head to Christen, not having to worry about waking her up anymore.

“Good morning, my love,” she said, echoing the term of endearment Christen had used the night before.

Christen smiled at that. “Mmmm, do we have to get up yet?”

Christen was still well tucked under the blanket, but Tobin had freed one of her arms. She took a look at the watch that adorned it. “No, we still have time. I think I’m going to get up though.”

“I’m going to sleep some more.”

Tobin went for a quick walk, and by the time she got back, Christen had indeed fallen asleep again. She didn’t want to wake the woman, so she quietly got changed, pulling a slightly too big white T-shirt over her head and cargo shorts on. She gathered her things and put her boots on. She didn’t want to leave Christen without a goodbye though. She rummaged through her pack knowing there would be a pencil and paper somewhere in there. She wrote out a quick note to leave with her girlfriend for when she awoke again. 

Tobin headed back to Rosebud and put the few things she had taken back in their spots. Lindsey was nowhere to be seen, but after Tobin brushed her teeth, she spotted the blonde approaching their shared tent. She looked disheveled, hair a mess, and still in yesterday’s clothes. Tobin didn’t say anything, but must have had that questioning look on her face.

“Fell asleep in Crikside again,” Lindsey mumbled, “Me, Sonnet, and Crystal were up watching movies.”

Tobin had to laugh. She was also secretly grateful she wouldn’t have to explain her absence the prior night. 

Over at Desert Sands, Christen awoke again, and immediately noticed Tobin was gone. She did say she was getting up though. Christen’s stuff was neatly packed up, only the new day’s clothes left out. There was a note pinned to her bag too, along with a dandelion. Christen tossed off the blanket and reached over towards the note, freeing it from where it was attached to her bag.

Christen,

Figured it would be best if we didn’t roll up into Rosebud late in the morning together. I wanted to let you sleep too. You’re so cute when you’re sleeping. I hope you know that. I also hope you still have time for your morning yoga sesh, sleepy head.

xoxo,  
Tobin

Christen’s heart just about melted. She’d be lying if she didn’t say her eyes were brimmed with tears. She checked the time on her watch. She did indeed still have time for a quick yoga session. She was glad she opted to bring her mat with her the night before. She kind of hoped one of these mornings she would get Tobin in on it too. 

After her yoga, Christen returned the unit to exactly how it had been before they arrived the night before. She changed into her new clothes, slung her pack over her shoulder, and carried the yoga matt with her other hand. She headed back to Rosebud. On the way she passed by Gaia unit and saw Pinoe and Sam out and about. 

“Morning yoga session?” Sam asked.

“Yup!” Christen replied. It was truthful. 

“I’m kind jealous of how you can get up and do that every day.”

“You are welcome to join anytime!” Christen said with a smile.

“I will definitely take you up on that.”

Christen had perfect timing. Just as she was getting back to Rosebud, Becky was gathering up the 10 campers that had stayed over the weekend. They were getting ready to go to breakfast, which was always an hour later on weekends. Christen dropped by her tent to switch a few things out of her bag and drop her yoga mat. Tobin poked her head out of her tent like a cartoon character and waved. Christen sent her a wave back, then joined the group almost ready to head to the dining hall. Tobin was right behind her too in joining the mass of Rosebud folks.

Vlatko, Alyssa, and Ashlyn had prepared a brilliant breakfast of waffles and fresh fruit for their morning meal. Alyssa even made a jam like syrup for the waffles out of strawberries. Ashlyn gladly let the kids put towers of whipped cream on their meals. The adults enjoyed it as much as the kids did too. 

As always on Sundays, Kelley gave out everyone’s assignments for the week. Christen already knew she still had the Connecticut kids for another week, so she really didn’t have anything to look over. She got them together, and though they had already planned much of the week already, there were still a few details she wanted to work out with them, especially concerning their service project. 

Tobin was sat at a side table while the counselors chatted and looked over their new paperwork. She had checked in with Morgan and Casey for their availability and how Morgan was feeling after yesterday’s incident. She seemed recovered, but Tobin was still going to have her take it easy for the next few days. She was alone at her table, working out the lifeguard shifts and a tentative boating schedule. Kelley strolled up and leaned on the back on Tobin’s chair with a free hand. The other was on her hip.

“Oh Tobin,” she said, “I heard some interesting things at breakfast this morning.”

Tobin was suddenly stiff. There was no way anyone had caught her and Christen making out the last night. She was sure of it. 

Kelley continued, amused by Tobin’s visceral reaction. “You see, I sat with the kids this morning. They have a way of finding out so many, many things. Such interesting things too.”

Now Tobin had really no idea what the heck Kelley was going on about. She turned herself around towards Kelley, with a confused face.

“They were telling me that they’re pretty sure you have a significant other, AND, that they think it’s ME.”

Tobin burst out laughing. She had completely forgotten about the exchange she had with the kids Friday night, and quite honestly had thought they had forgotten about it too. Apparently they hadn’t.

Kelley continued, “You know, you should really tell me if we’re dating. I’ve been a shit ass girlfriend if that’s the case.”

Tobin amused Kelley. “Dating? That’s funny. I didn’t know we were dating either. Hmm, Christen’s going to be real disappointed when I tell her.”

Christen had finished talking to her kids, and they were pretty content to play hackysack with Ashlyn, so she had snuck over to where Kelley was clearing putting on a dramatic show of something for Tobin. She heard the last line Tobin said, but recognized the sarcasm in it.

“Disappointed? What now do I have to be disappointed over?”

Tobin continued the joke, “Well it’s really a ‘he said she said’ type of thing. But Kelley here says that the kids told her she was my girlfriend. Sorry babe.”

Kelley had to add, “Hey, maybe Tobes is into that. More than one girl at a time.”

Tobin slapped Kelley a little too hard to be completely playful.

“I would be disappointed,” said Christen, “Especially after last night.”

Both Tobin and Kelley were surprised to hear Christen say that, but while Tobin was quite gleeful at the comment, Kelley was more in shock.

“Oh my god,” she began, “You guys didn’t... you know... did you???”

Tobin laughed. Christen smirked. Kelley’s reaction was quite funny, but it was exactly what Christen was trying to do to the poor girl. If she was gonna dish out the teasing, they would be getting back at her somehow.

“No, no” said Tobin, “But you know, we did have fun.” After a pause she added, “On our date and stuff.”

“And stuff?” Kelley echoed. Tobin just shrugged and played innocent. She went back to her schedules. Christen wasn’t giving up any more details either, so Kelley was straight out of luck. 

Christen did have one thing for Kelley though. She pulled the friendship bracelet she had made for her college roommate out of her bag, and held it out to her. Kelley’s eyes went wide and a grin sprang across her face.

“Oh my god! Christen, you made this for me? You’re the literal best!” She enveloped the fellow cardinal in a massive hug. “Thank you, thank you so much! I’ve been working on one for you myself, but now I’ll definitely have to finish it quicker.” Christen smiled. For a lot of reasons, she was glad Kelley had convinced her to come east to camp this summer.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of a new week. Christen and Kelley hike up a mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I used to update this weekly?!?! lol. Sorry its been two months. Enjoy.

As the kids rolled into camp, everyone took their places like they were actors about to put on a great summer play in the park. They weren’t doing any pretending though in their jobs. Camp Director, Lifeguard, Program Director, Counselor, they all fell right into their professional roles. 

Christen still had her group from the previous week, as they had all signed up for a two week session. She started coordinating field games with them and the new campers as they arrived. Since she didn’t have any new kids to greet, it made the most sense for her to take on that duty. They played Zip-Zap at first, a game that made you think fast, before transitioning to a game called Froggy Murderer, which was a camp favorite. It was much like Mafia, just a little toned down. 

The morning passed like clouds over the sky. Before Christen knew it, she was at the Waterfront with the campers she was responsible for. It normally would have been the time allotted for swim and canoe tests, but since the group had already completed these the week prior, they spent the hour as a normal swim block. All the kids opted to take advantage of the time and went swimming in the beautiful lake, under the careful eye of the lifeguards. 

Tobin couldn’t resist the chance to tease the young teens she had known for several summers now. 

“So I hear you guys have been telling people Kelley’s my girlfriend. Not cool to be divulging secrets like that. Tsk tsk.”

One of the girls spoke up, “Oh yeah sorry about that. We know now it isn’t true.”

“Oh... really?” Tobin was surprised. She was also intrigued. Had they figured the truth out? Or had they just realized they were wrong in their assessment?

“Yeah we saw Kelley and Christen hugging in the dining hall this morning,” another said. “It was like, a super hug. And one of us swears she saw Christen give her a love bracelet right before. They obviously have a thing.”

Tobin couldn’t help but be a bit jealous at the thought of Christen with someone else. She knew it was absurd. Kelley had her own partner, not that it mattered when it came to the fact she trusted both of her friends. Blood still rushed to her face as evidence of her being flustered. Love bracelet? she thought That’s.. no… that’s ridiculous. Tobin managed to compose herself. She spoke up, “You know they are friendship bracelets. All of you have them.”

“Hmm. I guess you are right,” one replied nonchalantly. 

Another of the teens added, “It could be just that they are roommates. They go to the same school, Stanford University, in CALiFOrNIA.”

Tobin didn’t hear it, but one of the kids then whispered “And they were roommates.” All the kids giggled and the poor waterfront director didn’t know why. 

“Hey what’s so funny?” she asked.

The teenagers whisper among themselves again, not content to reveal what made them laugh. 

Tobin made a conscious effort to snoop on their conversation. “Hmm I guess them being roommates would explain the hug. We always knew they weren’t dating.” The lifeguard briefly considered the idea that the teens were only pretending to hide their whispers. It was too easy. Maybe they wanted her to hear?

Tobin couldn’t help herself and had to butt into their conversation. “Um... but you just said...”

One of the campers spoke up with confidence, “It is clear that you and Kelley are DEFINETLY dating now though. No doubts about it. You got so upset when we mentioned she might be dating someone else!”

Tobin sighed. She hanged her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. There was no way she was winning here. They were right, in that she had gotten a little flustered. It was because of the wrong person in their made up relationship though. These kids were extremely crafty and intuitive, and also... not. 

“You know what I’m not debating this again.” Tobin walked away to the other end of the dock. She was just gonna leave it. It was the best thing to do. “Actually, I’m dating the green power ranger. He’s always been my fav.”

There was an equal mixture of boos and laughter from the group of teens. 

The two, Tobin and Christen were well behaved throughout the afternoon. Though as the kids were finishing up gathering their things to leave, Tobin’s eyes stuck to Christen. Tobin walked the length of the beach at the waterfront, slowly picking up the various stray items, some rope, a life jacket, but only the corner of her eyes were focused on these objects. As Christen zipped up her backpack, she gave Tobin an equal smile. The unit counselor slung her bag over her backpack and beckoned the group to head out, off to their next activity. She followed them from behind, the last of the entourage. She twisted her neck around sneaking a look back as they departed the waterfront. Tobin waved, half leaning on the beach rake in her arms, completely mesmerized. 

The next day for Christen was very busy. The group had decided to do their overnight earlier than in the typical week. Since they had all been there some time, they were already adjusted to Camp Coldwood. There was little reason to delay, and because they were planning a hike and still had their service project to complete later, there was reason to get ahead of the game. They spent the morning getting prepared, gathering food, tents, and other supplies. They had about an hour in the afternoon, they spent relaxing in the arts and crafts building working casually on some crafts. The heat of the day was at its peak then, but as soon as it started dipping, they set off on the actual trek. There was a mountain range that rose up with its first peak adjacent to the lake the camp called home. The range itself had a couple mountain tops on it though. One of these was the one the group had picked off a map to summit late in the day and camp at. In fact, the peak they had chosen was the tallest of the range. There was a dedicated trail up the mountain closest to camp, but the rest of the range was so remote, no real trails existed. Luckily, the old growth forest was easy to navigate through. There wasn’t masses of brush and small trees. Just large trees spaced apart and small plants in-between. 

Christen thought of the lingering stare between her and Tobin when they had left the beach the prior day. It wasn’t the last time they had seen each other, but it felt like the only real goodbye they had before the trek. Passing glances at breakfast didn’t count. As they bushwhacked through the terrain, she wondered if Tobin would have enjoyed this as much as she and Kelley were. She had asked Kelly to join purely for the orienteering skills required. Christen could read the map, compass, and elevation lines, but she had never actually set a path using them before. Bringing Kelley along, she had brought experience in actually performing the navigation of the trip. Or rather, in truth, Kelley was double checking the kids who were doing it. It turned out the campers were fully capable of navigating, but it was good to know Kelly was there too. Tobin was versed in orienteering too, but as waterfront director, she didn’t want to leave main camp for the duration of the extended overnight. Christen was glad to have Kelley nevertheless. She would never say it in front of Tobin, but Kelley was much funnier. Still, even though Tobin had to decline her request to join them, Christen still admired her dedication to her job at camp. It was that seriousness and loyalty that drew Christen to Tobin in the first place. She couldn’t find it in her soul to hold it against the woman. 

Across the terrain and up on the mountain they went. They bounced up and down several small hills, last autumn’s fallen leaves crunching below their feet. There was a small swamp, and a clearing where years before, loggers had once set up their base camp. The resulting meadow was beautiful. Flowers blossomed across it and the scent was as sweet as honey. Christen had never been a big hiker before. She had done a few small day trips before, but had never ventured to carry gear for an overnight along with her on a several mile, uphill trip. It was tiresome, but she resolved to keep going forward, even if she had to request a break or two along the way. She could tell one or two of the kids were thankful for the breaks as well. 

While Christen was out preparing and trekking to a mountain top for her overnight, Tobin was left at Coldwood for the day. She had her normal duties for the day, which was mainly lifeguarding, both at the beach and out on the lake while groups were out boating. She enjoyed it. Becky’s group went all the way across the lake and partly up the creek that ran to the river. They were on the younger side, so Tobin was impressed with how well they handled the boats. It was Becky’s group after all though. She had a way of obtaining efficiency in all things at camp like no other. 

On their way paddling back to the boat docks, the mountains adjacent to the lake stared down at Tobin. They refused to let her look away. All Tobin could think was up there, somewhere in that ridge, was Christen and Kelley. Were they okay? How were they doing? Would they make it to the summit in time? Was Christen thinking of her too? 

Tobin felt a mosquito land on the bridge of her nose. Rare for out on the lake, the wind usually kept them at bay, but she swatted it aside. Probably Not, she thought. If there were mosquitos out on the lake, she imagined there were even more up on the ridge. Definitely enough to preoccupy someone’s mind. Hopefully they brought bug spray. 

Later in the day, just after dinner, the kids kindly requested the counselors perform the rooster song, which was really a skit as well. Usually the older kids out voted the younger ones on this one, preferring other songs, but with a good chunk of them gone on the hike, the rooster song was on. Tobin had earned herself a reputation the last few years as being the preferred actor for the rooster, main subject of the song. Sometimes being a camp favorite was fun, but in this situation is was just embarrassing. She had to strut around like a bird squawking and cock-a-doodle-dooing. It made the kids laugh, but she could never be sure the kids weren’t laughing at her rather than the whole performance. She envied Julie, who was the water fountain, and got to squirt water all over the kids.

There was light left in the day when Tobin retreated to her tent. She just kind of wanted to relax, and picked up the current book she was reading. She dug through her items and found her glasses case, pulling them out and perching them on her nose. She didn’t wear them all the time, but if she was reading a book, definitely needed them in order to be comfortable. Laying on her stomach, she stretched her hands out beyond the edge of the bed and tent to get the most light on the pages. Christen had brought the novel, but now Tobin was reading it after the Californian had hyped it up quite a bit. Every time Tobin’s mind started to wander from focusing on the book, she reminded herself the more she read, the more she could talk about from the story with Christen. She flipped page after page, eventually having to switch to her headlamp so she could continue. Lindsey came into the tent at some point, was up for a little while, but went to bed. It was pitch dark when Tobin felt herself getting tired and decided she hit a good stopping point. She pressed the button on her watch, making it light up with the time. 

1:38 AM 

Oh shit, Tobin thought. I stayed up way later than I thought. Better get some rest while I can. 

Christen and her group reached the summit before sunset. The group had planned sandwiches for dinner. They hastily dug out the supplies, scattered among the several backpacks they all had brought up the mountain, and distributed them among themselves. They were just about finished with the construction of their meals wen the sky turned a hot orange. The sun nuzzled the horizon, seeking to slip into and beyond its depths. They all watched as the fiery circle dipped slowly beyond the far mountains as they ate their dinners. 

With only a slice of daylight left, Christen motivated the group to scurry just down from the summit where they had earlier sighted a nice semi-flat location to set up their tents. Everyone was tired, and that common denominator got them to quickly set up their tents in preparation for the night’s sleep. The children were not asleep yet, but they were clearly lounged on their sleeping pads lazily talking to each other. Kelley knew if she asked for volunteers to help cache the food, they would be hard pressed to rise any of the campers from where they rested. She knew these kids knew how to cache food anyhow, so she let it be. She went and tied up their remaining food supplies, breakfast, into a tree some distance away from where their tents were set up. 

Back at their main set up, Kelley found Christen had curled up in a light blanket in the counselor tent as well. The camper tents were silent, indicating that just in the few minutes or so she had been gone, they had slipped into sleep. It was early for them to turn in, compared to typical days, but with the exhaustion of climbing a mountain and hauling up a bunch of gear with you, it was well within reason. Christen was still awake, though she was blinking slowly, indicating she too was on the verge of sleep. As Kelley stepped fully into their tent and zipped the entrance back up, Christen poked her head out from under the light blanket she was wrapped in.

“Jesus,” said Kelley, “I know it is late, but it’s still like 70 out.”

“I am sensitive to the cold. And I like to be warm!” Christen protested softly. “Plus I am a Californian.”

“And I am from Georgia!”

“You’re just a weirdo though.”

Kelley had to think on that one, “Well you are right about that.”

Kelley then slumped into her own sleeping bag, snuggling up inside of it as much as she could. She had brought her lightweight one, so it was not too heavy or warm. It did feel nice though, the same way having a sheet over you in the summer did all the difference in helping you fall asleep even when it was sweltering hot out. Up on the mountain, the heat was not uncomfortable as it would have been at lower latitudes. Gentle breezes brushed the tent and trees around it. The duo had not built a fire, so no flickering fire, burning out its flame, was present outside the tent to cast mysterious shadows and popping noises. 

There was a couple minutes of silence in between the two. They were each unsure if the other was intending to fall asleep or not. Sure, they had been through this many a time at school, but it had been a while. There was some hesitance to see if the unspoken protocol would be the same here on top of a mountain as it was in their shared dorm room across the country in California. 

Christen broke the pause though. “It’s odd, but also nice being up here.”

“Not many people can say they’ve slept on top of a mountain. Especially leading a group of teenage girls too.”

“True. Bragging rights for us once we return back to school?”

Kelley laughed, “Do you think people will be impressed, or think we’re lame? So many of them are off at internships in Silicon Valley, and we’re making finger paintings.”

“Well I am, but you, you are literally managing a summer camp, an entire business.”

“Foudy does some stuff.”

“Yeah, but we all know you do a lot too. This place wouldn’t be half as good, if it ran at all, without you.”

Christen could hear the blush in Kelley’s voice. Despite her shows of bravado, she was secretly humble too. “Yeah, I guess so. You all make it pretty seamless, well, most of the time, so I am thankful for that.”

“How are you and your girlfriend doing?” asked Christen after a moment. 

“We are doing well. It’s weird not being able talk whenever we please, but it’s been working. I am lucky, I get to work in the office, so it’s pretty easy to sneak in a phone call at lunch or something.”

Kelley continued, “Like I think of Julie on the other hand. She’s always trying to schedule phone calls with Zach a few days ahead of time. It’s hard. She’s here, and he’s been doing football practice all summer.”

“Already?” asked Christen.

“He’s D1. It’s pretty much a full time job. I heard he’s even being scouted by the NFL already too.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. Good for him,” said Christen. 

“What about you?” asked Kelley. She knew Christen could be shy about her personal relationships, but she was curious. She had to know if Christen had more to say than either her or Tobin had to say in the Dining hall a few days earlier. 

“Me and Tobin?” Christen replied.

“Yes, you and who else?” Sarcasm bled through the words. Christen knew any thought of her getting away with playing naïve had been stabbed and left to die. 

“We are good. Really good.”

Kelley gave a moment to allow Christen to elaborate, but Christen did not. “Press, you are terrible at girl talk. I hope you know that. You must have more than that to say.”

“I mean, I do but...” Christen trailed off.

Kelley sat up so she was leaned on one elbow, her upper half facing Christen on the other side of the tent. “All is not well in the court of Christen the Great?” 

“No, its fine. I’m just not great at sharing this stuff.”

Kelley pondered for a moment. She recalled that at school, Christen was always the least likely of their friend group to tell stories of their flings. It wasn’t like she never had a tale of making out with some random dude or girl though. “What about the guy with the blue mustache? At that one party just before Thanksgiving break? You told me all about that, and that was a great story!”

Christen laughed, “Yeah, but that’s because it was funny. I mean, come on, a blue mustache! I can’t even imagine what his professors thought! This is different though.”

Kelley thought again. It was different, that story as compared to what they were talking about now. There was more real emotion behind this. She figured all Christen needed was a little reassurance, to know that as her friend, Kelley was never going to seriously judge her. Tease her sure, but nothing more than jests and nothing that made Christen feel too uncomfortable. 

She spelled it out letter by letter. “You’ve known me for a long time. And I’ve known Tobin for a while too. I won’t ever judge you guys. You don’t have to tell me anything, I’m just prying for gossip, but know that I am here to be more serious if you need me to be.”

Christen thought for a moment. She knew Kelley was being genuine. “Ok, can you ben serious then?”

Kelley nodded, then realizing the dark might not make it obvious, answered verbally too. She had no idea what Christen was going to get into. What was it that Christen wanted to be serious about? Was something going on beyond what she could see. Was it good, bad, messy?

“I know you’re gonna tell me I don’t know what I really feel, but I really, really like Tobin. A lot.”

Kelley was silent as she tried to figure out what Christen meant. Obviously she liked her a lot. Didn’t Christen tell her they made out last weekend? That wasn’t news to her.

Christen continued speaking after the pause. “She asked me to be her girlfriend.”

Oh, so this was where the seriousness was needed Kelley thought. “What did you say?” she asked. 

“I said yes,” Christen said. It surprised Kelley. “It was so easy too. It felt so right,” the Californian added. 

“Huh,” was all the program director could say.

“I know what you’re thinking. That it’s too—“

Kelley cut Christen off, “No, that makes sense. Tobin has been so happy the last week. I mean she usually is, but yeah. You can see it. And you too. For you, it is more you are less nervous, less anxious. Maybe part of it is you settling into camp, but I think it’s more than that too. I know you outside of Coldwood.”

“I just... Tobin... she’s amazing.”

“It’s kind of funny,” Kelley laughed, “I thought you two were gonna rip each other’s throats off there at first.”

“You weren’t the only one,” Christen said with a smile. 

“And now... you’re in LooOOvVe!” Kelley teased. 

“Oh, shut it,” said Christen, “You promised me you were going to be serious.”

“I was for a little bit! And you know me. I got BDE, big dumbass energy. I can’t resist.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me, you know it.”

There was a pause, “Yeah, I do. Goodnight O’Hara.”

“Goodnight Press.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen finishes the overnight up on a mountain she took her group on. Tobin is busy being in charge of the waterfront. Some rumors make their way up to the Camp Director.

There are always events in life that pass by in the moment without realization of how special they are until months, maybe years later. It could be an eye opening conversation with a friend, a solo day trip adventure, or even just trying something new. Waking up on top of a mountain was one of those moments for Christen. When the sun rose and the light awakened her, the first real thought she had was to about getting everyone up, fed, and ready to trek back to Coldwood. The soft breeze, the dewy leaves, the mellow streaks of light, the long shadows in-between, were all lacking thorough notice by Christen. It would be later that she would look back on the trip, and recall how truly remarkable the experience really was, sleeping on top of a remote mountain.

Part of the reason she was immediately focused on getting the group up and at’em was she had the forethought to check the weather report before the trip. It wasn’t always super accurate up in the mountains of upstate New York, but it could give you a decent idea of what to expect. The morning looked fine, but Christen knew a line of showers was due at some point later in the day. The girls, Kelley, and Christen herself all would prefer it if they got back to camp before then.

The group took a few minutes after waking up to enjoy the breakfast they had brought (after retrieving it from where they had cached it in a tree the night before) and then packed up their things. Kelley waved her tent wildly after taking the poles and stakes out.

“I’m trying to get the dew and dirt off!” she said when Christen gave her a funny look.

“You know all the tiny bits add up. I don’t want to carry a spec more down this mountain than I have too.” Kelley added. She rolled her shoulder, indicating it must have been a little sore from hauling everything in her pack the prior day. Christen stretched out her back, discovering she was a little sore too. That was to be expected though. The kids imitated Kelley, and also shook off all the dirt from their tents too. Christen was shocked at how much sand came out of one of them. It just kept pouring out as the girls maneuvered the tent to get it all out. She guessed they weren’t careful about taking their shoes off or watching how much dirt was on their feet. It was kind of amazing how much it all could add up in just one night.

Back at camp, Tobin was mobbed with the groups in the dining hall. They had just all finished their own breakfast too, and the groups were trying to schedule what time they would be going out on their overnights. Most were going out in boats, as per the norm, and would need lifeguarding. She dug out her clipboard and notepad from her backpack, but her hand remained elbow deep in its bowels trying to find a writing utensil as well. As another counselor came up and asked her about a time, Tobin’s search became frantic. Her brows furrowed and tongue just barely stuck out the side in frustration.

Suddenly, a kind voice with the words of an angel. “Here, take this pen,” said Becky Sauerbrunn.

Relief washed over Tobin as a smile returned to her face. “Thanks,” she said, “I really needed that.”

Tobin then jotted down the times everyone was planning on leaving. She took a quick look over it to see it was doable.

“JMac, can you do 4:00 PM instead of 3:30PM? I think I can make that work better.”

“Sure thing. That’s not a problem.”

Tobin looked at her notes again after making the adjustment. She was happy with how it looked. She had noticed the one chance of rain today had moved up from the afternoon to the late morning, so she wouldn’t have to worry about that messing with her schedule either.

It didn’t take long for Kelley and Christen to get their group on their way down the mountain. Christen had assumed the way down would be quicker than going up, but as it turned out the challenges were just different. Her legs were stiff from the day before, as was everyone’s who was on the trip. Going down you had to be more careful too. One trip, and your momentum could make for a nasty fall down the trail. Finally, they did get to bottom of the peak though. They still had to trek a good ways on flat (by comparison) ground through the same meadows and rolling forest hills they had come through the prior day before they got back to Coldwood.

It was at one of these meadows that Kelley called for them to stop and have a quick water break. She had picked a beautiful spot. Wildflowers, purple, blue, and yellow were scattered throughout. A little stream ran through the clearing too. There were a couple dead trees, dried out, probably years and years old laid down at its meek sides. Christen pulled out her phone to snap a few pictures. She wanted to eventually show her family and friends back in California the gorgeous spot. She also picked some of the flowers, a few of each color, and put them next to one of her water bottles in the outer mesh side compartment on her backpack. That way, they wouldn’t get damaged by all the stuff inside the pack. They were to pretty to let them accidentally get squished.

The group got back on the move shortly after, and were making good progress. One of the girls announced she had looked at the map during their water break, and they only had a few miles left. They should be back at Coldwood by noon. This made Christen happy. She really enjoyed the trip, but boy did she want to take her shoes off and not move for a while. Christen also couldn’t wait to tell Tobin all about her adventure. She was sure Tobin had at least one good story from yesterday too. She daydreamed in her head the conversation and was formulating the exact words to use to share her adventure with Tobin.

“Hmm,” said Kelley. It caught Christen’s attention. It wasn’t a ‘hmm’ of concern, but more of a ‘hmm’ of awareness.

Drawn out of her own head, Christen immediately noticed what the verbalization was for. The wind was picking up ever so slightly in the woods ahead of them. A cloud passed in front of the sun. They hiked for another 20 minutes. It was now definitely just slightly darker than it had been. Instead of brilliant blue and yellow light, it was boring white and occasional gray. Christen could hear it though, the sound of rain hitting the leaves of the trees just beyond the next bump. She felt a few sprinkles fall on her nose and hands. Nothing big though, barely noticeable.

“Is it me, or is it raining?” said one of the kids.

“Pshh,” on the others said, “This isn’t REAL rain.”

They kept going, as there really wasn’t any reason to stop. The sprinkles actually felt quite good, refreshing even. They were all hot and sweaty from hiking after all. After another few minutes, Christen heard the wind picking up in front of them and the rain getting harder. The sky went from a cloudy white, to a moody gray. She could hear the wall of torrential rain coming as it beat onto the trees in the yonder forest.

“Uh… let’s get off the trail for a few minutes,” she said. There was no panic in her voice, just a hint of urgency.

She spotted a large pine tree, just a few feet up on the trail, just off to the side. She corralled everyone under it. It wouldn’t block all the rain, but it would shield them from most of it. They had rain ponchos too, and took the opportunity to take them out and put them on. They were nice because you could fit your backpack under them too. The once quite forest became a cacophony of rain pelting the landscape. They were positioned up on an embankment, and could look down the decline, but in the harshest part of the rain, the distance they could see was cut in half by the wall of rain passing them by.

“WELL YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE WEATHER,” Kelley said, yelling to be heard over the downpour, “IT CHANGES LIKE THE WEATHER.” She was trying to be funny, a bit of a smartass, but her point was true. Just a few minutes ago it was barely sprinkling, and a few minutes before that it was all sunshine. It also meant that in another few minutes it could be sunshine again.

The pine tree did its job though. It blocked the worst of the rain, and the ponchos had no trouble dealing with the rest. As expected, the torrential rain only lasted a few minutes. With the sky back to just drizzling and dripping water from the trees, they set off again.

“Hey look!” said one of the girls, pointing to their left. A rainbow could be seen through the trees and sunshine behind it, quickly encroaching. It left them all with smiles. The air had a clean crisp feel to it now too, lighter with the humidity broken and the temperature dropped a few degrees.

There was one unfortunate effect of the downpour though. It had left their trail muddy and wet. That much intense rain fall dumped more water than the ground could absorb in such a short time though. Luckily they only had little stream to cross, the type that were entirely dependent on rain. The little criks were definitely experiencing greater flow, but were still well within ability to cross. The many puddles they encountered proved to be more troublesome. Christen was in front, the trail blazer. She did her best to go around where she could, but some mud pits couldn’t be avoided. A few times she had to put in considerable effort to pull her foot up from where the mud had it trapped. Once or twice she thought she might lose a boot, but thankfully that didn’t come to fruition. Her knees down to her feel were completely plastered in water and dirt though. No one else fared much better behind her, but at least they had her footprints to step in to make it a little easier. This was the downside of hiking over flat flow lands. The water stayed. When you were on a mountain, it just went downwards to some other part of the woods. Probably to the low lands where some other schmuck would have to deal with it all.

As Christen and Kelley arrived back at camp, the other groups were preparing to leave for their overnights. The group dropped their equipment off where it belonged, and then headed to the shower house to rinse the mud and sweat off. Christen did her best to rinse off her mud caked boots as well, but it seemed like the boots themselves were falling apart too.

“Shit,” she mumbled to herself. She had pair of light sneakers she could wear, but she also knew wearing them all the time at camp would leave them destroyed in no time too. A new pair of hiking boots was now on the shopping list.

The kids wanted a nice relaxing afternoon to counter the hard work they put into the last 24 hours. Christen wasn’t going to object, as some time crafting and at the beach was exactly what she wanted to do that afternoon too. All the other groups hustled by hauling their gear to the boat launch. There were a few envious looks coming from that way towards the girls lounging in the sand.

A few others were floating on pool noodles in the water.

“The cool water feels so good on my legs,” said one, “It’s like an ice bath, but not as cold.”

“You should dive down then. It’s really cold near the bottom.”

The kid temporarily ditched their pool noodle and disappeared below the surface. A few moments later she popped back up.

“That is cold down there!”  
“Still feel good on the sore muscles?”

“I don’t even know. I was too focused on the shock of it and swimming. Can’t really sit down there and be in it, can you? Besides I like just hanging on the surface with the noodle because it is NOT as cold as an ice bath.”

The lifeguards were in and out, and kept switching who was doing what. They all took at least group out in the boats and a shift on the beach lifeguarding the swimmers. They were busy, but Tobin seemed to manage it all. She had a few moments where she had time to say hello to Christen and her group, but it was mainly a polite ask of how their trip was. Any real reunions would have to wait until the other groups were all out at their camp sites.

Usually on overnight day, the kitchen did not have to cook dinner for everyone. To make up for what is usually the easy night for them, Christen had suggested her girls go and help out with the cooking. The chefs took advantage of that, as when they got there, it was only Ashlyn. She sat on stool at the counter and just told the girls what type of prep they had to do, like cutting vegetables. Ashlyn did do most of the stuff with the stove and oven, but even she admitted it was a light load.

“I gotta say, this was fun having the girls in here helping.”

“You’re just saying that because you had to hardly do anything,” said Christen.

“I mean, that is a plus, but I also liked interacting with the kids. We don’t get a ton of that. This could be a program though! I know we cook over the fire and stuff, but we could do real cooking too!”

Christen pondered for a second, “Hmm, that’s actually not a bad idea.”

It was just Christen’s group the remaining staff in main camp for dinner, so they pushed two long tables together and sat at one big table. The girls proudly told everyone that they had made the meal.

“Nicely done,” said Vlatko.

Two of the lifeguards, Tobin and Morgan rushed in 5 minutes. They had finally gotten everyone out to their sites, returned themselves, and tidied up the beach area. Casey was out with Allie’s group, accompanying them for their overnight. They both looked starved and quickly took the last two empty seats. Tobin slid in on one of the benches next to Christen. She let her hand graze against Christen’s leg as she stepped over. Christen knew it was done intentionally. A brush just enough to be a secret hello meant only for your girlfriend.

Kelly was seated a few seats down, across from the two of them. She was vigorously shoving pasta into her mouth, faster than she could eat it. She looked like a chipmunk packing nuts for winter in its cheeks.  
“Looks like Kelley missed real food,” said one of the kids laughing.

Kelley slurped a noodle up through her lips. Then, through a mouthful of food, “Heck yeah I did.”

After chewing and swallowing she added, “And you guys did a helluva good job. Of course I am gonna eat as much as I can!”

“You do this every time we have primavera,” said AD deadpan.

“Good food is good food, what can I say!”

The whole table was giggling at Kelley’s antics.

One of the kids in a not so quite whisper to their neighbor said, “You think Kelley missed Tobin as much as Kelley missed pasta?”

Tobin just rolled her eyes. She was just going to ignore that they still thought her and Kelley were a thing. A few other people might have heard the comment, but no one seemed to care and it wasn’t mentioned again. Tobin figured ignoring it must be the way to go then. In a matter of seconds, the conversation had shifted to Alex talking about a huge toad she saw out by the rock wall that day.

“We’ll have to go look for it tomorrow,” said one of the kids.

“Christen, can we please? We have to see it! And it won’t take very long!”

“I don’t know guys, we’re supposed build the bridge on our trail tomorrow and finish up the service project. It will probably take all day.”

Kelley perked up, “The last of your wood is over that way. I was gonna drive it over in the golf cart... but it’s not too much to carry. Maybe you could look for the toad first thing in the morning on your way to pick it up.” She then added, “If that’s cool with you, Christen.”

Christen put her pointer finger to her chin, thinking. “I think that should work. We can’t look to long though.”

“Yes!”

After the meal, the group of girls went outside and gathered at a circle of logs often used as benches. It was customary to sing songs after evening meal, and that’s what they did. Alex was out there with them too, and so was Christen. Tobin was about to head over that way as well, but Foudy stopped her.

“Tobin, Kelley, I want to talk to you two for a minute. In my office.”

That couldn’t be a good thing. Tobin looked at Kelley and flung her hand up to gesture as if she was saying “What the heck is this about?”  
Kelley was just as in the dark as Tobin. She sent back a slightly aggressive shrug. She had no idea what this about either.

Tobin and Kelley stood straight as planks in front of Foudy’s desk, unsure of what their fate was. Tobin swallowed hard. She didn’t know what she was in for, and it was making her a touch on the nervous side.  
She could hear the faint sound of singing from the other end of the camp. Foudy straightened out her desk. She had some papers sitting on her chair that she took a moment to find the proper place for in her desk.

As she took a seat she started, “I heard some of the kids talking at dinner tonight. As I know I’ve told everyone before, they should not be discussing personal relationships between staff.”

Kelley started snort laughing. Tobin let her head slouch forward into a face palm. It was accompanied by an exasperated sigh.

“We’re not... It’s just the kids starting rumors.”

“Oh... I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.” She sounded slightly surprised.

“Come on,” Kelley said, “Foudy, you have MET my girlfriend before! And it ain’t Tobin.”

“Well I don’t know pretend to know everything about your personal lives. You’ve always been such good friends. And I’ve seen friendships turn into more than that here. And that’s okay, even great. I just wanted to remind you that this is a workplace. I guess I really don’t have to worry about it anymore though...”

“The rumors will pass,” Kelley said, “They’ll get bored and move on to something else.”

Tobin then wandered over to her mailbox. She had neglected it for a few days and had a few letters from home to go through. Kelley checked hers too, but since she was in the office more, she tended to not have a buildup of mail. She didn’t have any letters, so she headed back out to join the singing. Tobin sat in one of the chairs on the office porch to read hers.

A few minutes later, Christen came by.

“Kelley told me I had some mail in my box.”

The screen door slammed behind her as she entered the building. A few moments later, it slammed again. Christen took a seat next to Tobin as she read her mail. It was one long letter from one of her sisters telling her all about what was going on in her life that summer.

Tobin finished going through her own letters. One of her friends had sent her a pack of Swedish Fish as a one item care package. She was grateful for it. She waited while Christen finished her reading. Tobin sat still letting the evening air fill her nostrils. She closed her eyes for just a moment, re-centering herself after a busy day.

Christen put her letter away, having read through it all. As she did, she said, “Oh, I have something for you. Here.” From the side of her backpack she pulled out the wildflowers she had picked earlier in the day.

“These are beautiful,” said Tobin softly. It was so simple to have flowers picked for you, but it was an extraordinarily nice feeling.

“You’re my wildflower,” said Christen, attempting to be serious, but being betrayed by her own smile trying to break free.

“Look at you,” Tobin said, “Even you know how cheesy that sounds.”

The laughter broke free for both of them. “God, I know. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and it seemed so cool in my head. But here now, actually saying it, oh my god, it does sound cheesy.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be your wildflower as long as you want.”

Foudy was silent from inside the building, still at her desk writing on paperwork, but she did take notice of the interaction.

Huh. Oh. I get it now. Some pieces had been put together.

Tobin and Christen made their way over to where the singing was happening. A lot of girls had pulled out their friendship bracelets or boondoggle to work on while they sung. Instead of sitting on a log, Tobin was sitting legs crossed in the grass. She had the wild flowers laid out before her and was doing something with them. She was also picking long piece of the grass and incorporating that into whatever project had her focus.

Eventually yawns could be heard in between the melodies. It was still a bit early for the older kids to head to bed, but they did just have a taxing day. Most of them would not protest against the idea of getting in their pajamas and climbing into their sleeping bags. The crew disbanded, with everyone going back to their home units or cabins. Christen, her group, and Tobin made up the largest group, all from Rosebud. The kids walked just ahead of the two adults as they followed the trail back to their unit.

Tobin was smiling giddily.

“What’s that about?” asked Christen.

“Here.” She tried to place a makeshift flower crown onto Christen’s head. It was made with the flowers she had given to Tobin.

Christen put her hands up. “No! Those flowers are for you!” Tobin managed to get the crown onto Christen’s head anyway.

“I want to see them on you though!”

Christen let the crown stay on for a moment, to appease Tobin, but then removed in. “Your flowers, your crown.” She put the crown on its creator’s head.

“Does it suite me?” Tobin teased.

Back at their unit, the kids needed no encouragement to settle down. “We’re going tour tents!” one announced.

“Make sure you brush your teeth!” Christen reminded.

“Ugh... okay though.”

“Teenagers,” said Tobin, just loud enough for Christen to hear. It made her almost laugh.

Back at her tent, Tobin removed the flower crown. She stuck it in between the pages of a book and placed some heavier items on top. She had found that this was the best way to preserve plant life for a keepsake. As Tobin was winding down herself, it occurred to her that she and Christen were the only staff in the unit.

Christen had just finished her nighttime routine. She had initially been under the blankets, but it was much too warm, so she had to rearrange herself and instead was opting to just sleep on top of the bedding. Her pajamas for the night were just a tank top and shorts, and the cool(ish) night air was refreshing on her exposed skin. Later on she would probably delve back under the sleeping bag, but for now, this was perfect.

“Psst.” It was Tobin’s voice. “Are you sleeping?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Can I come in?”

Christen turned a light on, and Tobin’s head was poking through the front flap of the tent. Seeing the light, Tobin took that as yes and plopped herself inside. She had a blanket and pillow with her, in her pajamas as well.

“You look like you’re ready for a sleepover,” commented Christen.

“I am. I mean, all the other counselors are gone on their overnights. It’s just the two of us. Might be nice.”

“Tobin, there are kids not that far away.”  
“I didn’t mean it like that. Look, I brought my own blanket and pillow. I figured I could crash on the extra bed.”

Christen stifled a smile and she looked over at the extra bed. A good many of her things had overtaken it.

“Oh. I see,” said Tobin.

“No, no. I’ll move my stuff for you. It will be nice, we can just talk, and you know, have normal uninterrupted unfiltered conversations.”

Christen slid off her bed and gathered up her things. It was all stuff she had been meaning to put away. Tobin helped a little too. It wasn’t that long and they were both settled in again. The extra bed was on the same side as Christen’s, and since they went along the wall, they were able to positions their pillows and sleeping bags so they were head to head. Really only a few inches separated their heads from one another. They could whisper all night long if they wanted, and it was tempting.

“So how was that adventure of yours?” Tobin asked, “I want to hear all about it.”

“Oh my God, it was wonderful. It was hard going up that mountain with all the gear, but we made it. And Kelley was super helpful. You should have seen the sunset up there. It was beautiful.”

“Was the view good? It’s not a well-traveled mountain, so I didn’t know if it had a good view or not.”

“It didn’t have a full 360° view, but it had most of one. You could see all these other mountains and lakes. Incredible really.”

“Probably the Truth Range. It’s not far from here, and it is beautiful. Was there one mountain with two peaks close together, like cat ears?”

“Yeah! There was!”

“That’s it then. One of my favorite places to go and hike.”

Yeah, it was a really fun trip. The only downside is that after the rain, the mud ruined by boots. I guess that just means it was almost their time anyway though.”

“That’s no problem. A trip into town and we can get you some new ones.”

Christen allowed a pause. She was thinking on her wants, contemplating how much could be indulged. Tobin continued the conversation about the hike.

“How are you feeling? With a trek like that, I bet your kid of sore.”

“Oh my god, my legs felt like noodles this afternoon. They feel a bit better now though. Just a little though. I don’t want to be this complainer, but I feel it in my shoulders too. Probably from the pack.”

Without a word Tobin quietly got up and stood next to Christen. She stood still for a moment, seemingly to take in how cute  
Christen looked with her sheets pulled up just under her chin. Both had this tiny mischievous smile. Tobin knelt and then reached for Christen’s legs hanging out from under the sheet. She kneaded the muscles of Christen’s calfs.

“Ooh”, remarked Christen. The action was initially sort of uncomfortable, in the good way that healing that often is. After a moment, she settled into it.

When the tension in Christen’s lower calfs felt sufficiently relived, Tobin tried to move to Christen’s feet. Christen quickly withdrew her lower extremities to the closeness of her torso though.

  
“Don’t! I’m ticklish!” she protested.

  
Tobin was persistent though, “Just relax! After the initial touch, it feels really good. Just let me!”

  
Tobin tried one more time to massage Christen’s feet, but Christen continued to withhold her precious extremities.

  
“Fine,” said Tobin, “Have it your way.” She reached for Christen’s midriff and intentionally tickled that instead.

  
“You jerk!” said Christen through laughter. Tobin could feel the hardness of Christen’s midriff, even through the laughter and just her fingertips making contact. The woman had a strong core.

  
“I prefer the term ‘asshole’”, said Tobin. She did successfully get control of one of Christen’s feet in the distraction. She pressed her thumbs into the front balls of Christen’s left foot. There was a moment of resistance, but then Christen settled into it.

  
“Oh, that does feel good,” Christen remarked.

  
“See, I told you.”

  
The foot massage went on for a good couple minutes. Christen closed her eyes, deciding to lean into the comfort and relief Tobin was offering up. Tobin’s hands were on Christen’s feet, but her eyes were on Christen’s lips. Her breathing grew sharp whenever Tobin pressed into the tensest spaces of Christen’s feet. Tobin loved watching those deep breaths and how they made Christen’s whole body rise with air and the freedom that came with it.

Eventually the tension in Christen’s feet was temporarily relieved as much as it could have been. Christen’s breaths were normal, if soft and slow. She looked at Tobin with narrow eyes and a slight smile.

“I know you want something else,” said Tobin.

“I’m just thinking.”

“What about?”

“If you don’t mind, my shoulders could use your magic touch as well,”

Any chance to be closer to Christen was a chance Tobin was going to take. She cracked a “Ha,” through a crooked half smile. “Roll over,” said Tobin as she gently nudged her girlfriend. Christen obliged, so she was now on her stomach.

Tobin was tentative at first. Foot massages were something she was familiar with, due to her habits of hiking and mountaineering, and her choice in friends who enjoyed the same. She had never performed an upper back massage before, and had only had it done on herself once. She dove in though, literally two hands first. She got up from her position on her knees and sat on the edge of Christen’s cot. As she worked the shoulders of Christen, she found herself leaning closer and closer to the woman at her palms. She found herself close enough to hear the intricacies of each breath Christen took.

Just as the tension in Christen’s legs dissipated with Tobin’s thorough touch, the stiffness in Christen’s shoulders too left. Tobin found herself awful close in proximity to Christen, nearing a critical point where she was more lying next to her than sitting upright. Their breaths were in sync. Tobin closed her eyes, as were Christen’s, just enjoyed the contact between them where Tobin’s hands met Christen’s shoulders. It wasn’t necessary anymore, the aches were gone from Christen’s body, but both savored the touch for less tangible reasons.

“Just do it. I know you want to,” Christen whispered.

Tobin took her hands off Christen’s back. Christen twisted around to face her girlfriend, wondering why the contact had ended. She found Tobin giving her a raised eyebrow and a questioning look. Tobin was trying to figure out exactly what Christen meant.

“You want to lay next to me, hold me. I know you do,” clarified Christen.

“You’re right,” admitted Tobin, “I’m just worried. What if a kid comes, even just for a nightmare?”

They were both sitting up now. “It’s not like they just would just barge in here,” stated Christen. She took one of Tobin’s hands in her own. “Besides, your stuff is in the other bed. I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume you moved your stuff over for the night, just so we were in the same place.”

Tobin didn’t protest any further and once again felt an otherness overtake the action of her body. She followed Christen, mirrored her as she laid back down on the cot. There wasn’t much room, but just enough. It was too hot a night to have both a covering over you and a body next to you, so the sheet was tossed aside.

Tobin attempted to reach her other hand under Christen’s torso. Christen allowed it, welcomed it. Tobin’s hands were clasped at Christen’s navel, arms wrapped around her waist. She was still though. It was enough, more than enough for Tobin to have Christen this way. Her face tucked into Christen’s curls, it was all she needed in order to be calm, content, and still. For Christen, the soft pressure of Tobin’s fists at her stomach was warm both in the physical and emotional senses. To be held, there was nothing like else like that in the world. Tobin snuck in a few kisses at Christen’s neck. Christen wanted to express similar feeling but really, really enjoyed the current situation, despite its inability to face Tobin. She instead took Tobin’s left hand briefly and brought it up to her lips were she successfully returned the kisses there. She could feel Tobin’s breathe hitch, the slight smile the air was passing through. It was the perfect gesture for the circumstance.

When they awoke, it was because of the morning songs of the birds who called Rosebud unit their home. For both, it was a good, comforting, restorative slumber. They were still locked into the positions they had started in. Tobin’s arms around Christen’s torso, Christen neatly tucked into the curves of Tobin’s body, sheets tossed aside, not needed.

“It’s still early,” said Christen. She was awake, and she knew Tobin was too by the fidgeting of the other woman’s body.

“I’m not ready to get up yet though.”

“Me neither, and we don’t have too yet.”

As they allowed the initial sleepiness upon waking up to wear off, Tobin continued to hold Christen. Christen let her hand trace her girlfriend’s forearm as her mind booted back up. The outside world sounded calm, almost silent. A bright ray of sun shined through one of the tent’s edges. Whoever last rolled up the sides had neglected to fully tighten the lacing back down.

As consciousness caught up to them, Christen turned herself around, still wrapped up in her lifeguard’s arms. Her arms were tucked in between the two, but quickly found themselves at Tobin’s cheeks. Face to face, she got stuck in Tobin’s eyes. They were full of a sense of adventure, like they were always going to be in search of something new to try. They were wholesome too. The brown reminded Christen of the tall redwoods in northern California. The pupils dilated though, and suddenly they were more like piercing stars. She closed her eyes, knowing what was coming, and then felt Tobin’s mouth at her lower lip. Christen felt safe, and she indulged in the comfort. Some moments made her heart race, and others it calmed it to almost a standstill. Either way, the moments were all worth it.

After some time, Tobin separated their heads. She pushed back a strand of Christen’s hair behind her ear. “That was a good night sleep,” Tobin remarked. She freed herself from the cot and stretched out her arms.

“You know, we still have plenty of time.” Christen glanced at the digital clock hung up on the other end of the tent. “Come back to bed. Stay as long as we can.”

“Much obliged,” whispered Tobin as she laid back down next to the woman she had held all night long.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen searches for a giant toad and builds a bridge. Tobin buys a gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing to say for myself regarding how long it took to update.

It had never taken longer for any group, even the six and seven year olds, to walk through the path that weaved in-between the low ropes elements. The group with Christen walked ever so slowly in search of the giant toad that allegedly could be found in the area. They all carefully shifted their weight from heel to toe with each footstep trying not to make any noise. They also tended to meander in-between the two side of the path in a zig zag to further cover the ground they searched. By Christen’s estimate, it probably almost doubled the amount of steps they had to take, on top of the steps being so slowly taken. The girls kept their eyes peeled to the ground though. Jane even had a stick and was carefully prodding the leaves on the ground with light taps and slipping things to the side. No toad, as divined by Alex, was found yet though. Christen found herself not really caring much about the toad. She had seen many already this summer. She thought though, that the sooner they found the toad, the sooner they could move on with their day.

“I always see toads when they jump out of my path,” she stated, “Regular footsteps alert them. I think your light footsteps may impeding your search more than it is helping.”

“What does ‘impeding’ mean?” asked Taylor.

“It’s like the opposite of help,” said Midge, “Instead of helping a cause, you’re impeding it.”

“So Christen is saying we should stomp around and scare the toad so we know where it is?”

“No,” said Jane. She starting smacking her stick around with more force. “Just let em know we are here, and then it can choose to let us know.”

“They are hard to see when they are still, with the camouflage,” suggested Cat with a shrug. The group seemed to move a little faster.

Not a few minutes later, Lynn yelled, “Look! There it is!” 

All the girls rushed over and the sudden influx caused the toad to hop a few more times in the direction away from the path. Jordan followed it and scooped the reptile up with both her hands. Christen thought it was indeed, a very large toad. She began to get out her phone to snap a photo. 

“You know, you really shouldn’t pick them up,” said Midge.

“That thing about them getting hurt by people touching them is false,” Jordan remarked back.

“No, I was talking about-” Midge started to say.

The big toad began peeing all over Jordan’s hands. And big toads had big bladders. The clear liquid ran down her forearms, and an expression of anguish appeared on Jordan’s face.

“I was gonna say they pee as self-defense,” finished Midge dejectedly, having been too late in her warning.

It was not Christen’s intent when she snapped the photo, but the image just happened to be the moment Jordan realized her predicament. It was clear in the photo what was causing her contorted face as well. 

Jordan put the toad down and the kids admired it for another few minutes before deciding it was best left in peace. 

“You got a photo though, didn’t you Christen?” asked Jordan, “We have to let Alex know we found it.”

“Yeah I did,” Christen flipped through the couple shots she had taken, showing the group. She stopped at the one where the moment of truth had occurred. “This one is definitely going on the camp blog.”

“No!” said Jordan, “What if my parents see!”

“They will probably love it,” said Christen.

“Yeah, they will think it’s hilarious!” added Lynn.

Jordan just held her hands palms up, examining them, in a sort of shock at what had happened to her. 

“Jordan, Sophia, why don’t you two go to the Tadpole unit latrines so Jordan can wash up. The rest of us will meet you there with our bridge supplies.”

Jordan and Sophia headed back the way they had come, and the remainder of the group continued to the wood shed, where Kelley had said the supplies were located.

The group spent the rest of the morning sawing, cutting, and drilling as they assembled the bridge over the little creek. It was very exciting for the girls to get to use power tools, even if it was just to drill the holes in for the screws. The blueprint they had used was easy enough to follow, but the bridge ended up having beauty in its simplicity. Underneath, on one of the boards, the carved in their names. It wasn’t visible unless you looked for it, but years down the road they could come visit camp and point to proof they had helped build the crossing. Christen put her name too, and added the year as well at the end of the list. 

The manual labor had made them all hot in the sun, so a few of the kids took of their shoes and stuck their feet in the cold stream.

“Ah that feels so good!” one commented.

“I wish we had built the bridge deck closer to the water. Then we could sit on it and put our feet in.”

“Yeah, but it’s probably better this way. In the spring, the water gets really high because of the snow melt and rain. It roars through here. We wouldn’t want it to wash out the bridge.”

“Yeah... I guess that is a good point,” the first girl laughed. 

Christen held the blueprint as she examined the bridge. “Ok, last thing is a few extra nails. I believe they are to make the bridge extra sturdy.” She pointed to where they were marked on the paper as a couple kids looked on. 

“I think that’s it then. We’ll be done by with bridge before lunch!” said one of the girls as she grabbed a few nails and a hammer.

Christen grabbed some too. “We better get a move on then. Some people are already starting to gather outside.” It was true. A few people had started to linger outside the main entrance of the dining hall.

Sweat dripped of the tip of Christen’s nose as she hammered away. The nails didn’t go easy into the dense wood. At least it was good building material that would hold up though. She switched turns hammering with one of the kids as they went along the one side of the bridge, standing in the stream bed.

Tobin could hear the thud thud thud of the construction still underway as she approached the main part of camp. She knew it had to be the bridge being built. As she rounded the bend in the path, she was surprised to see it was pretty much done. That group sure worked efficiently. Her steps slowed just slightly as her eyes caught the top half of Christen. From a distance, the plant life, moving people, and bridge itself obscured the lower half of the Californian. Her skin seemed to shine like the sun, and Tobin took note of how the woman’s biceps moved along her upper arm with every fall of the hammer. Christen stopped for a moment, unaware her girlfriend was watching from afar. She wiped the sweat of her brow, and handed the hammer to Cat who continued the relentless pounding ringing through the air. 

Tobin had always thought of herself as a bit of a beefcake, but Christen was kind of too. It was a little more impressive, thought Tobin, for Christen because she could pull off the cute look effortlessly too. 

As if on cue, Christen pulled out her ponytail and began putting it back up as a bun. The last kid with a hammer in their hand gave it a triumphant wave in the air before laying it down on the ground. By the high fiving going around, it seemed they had finished. Tobin could has sworn Christen’s smile sparkled in the sunlight and she celebrated with her group for their hard earned accomplishment. 

The group then started making their way over to the entrance of the dining hall where the rest of camp had half gathered, waiting for lunch to officially start. They deserved a reward of a nice big meal. Christen deserved a reward too, and the gears in Tobin’s brain started turning. 

For both Christen and Tobin, the rest of the day kept them focused on their jobs. Christen dutiful had the kids clean up their construction, returning tools and whatnot, and decided the rest of the afternoon would be whatever they wanted. With a hike overnight, a new trail built, even if they just lounged around in the grass for the rest of the week, every single of one of those girls would have tons to talk about as far as “what they did at camp” when they returned home. Tobin mainly just lifeguarded during swimming. Her first focus was of course surveying the water, but the second task in her mind was all Christen. Everything clicked into place and she had a plan formed by the time the afternoon concluded.

The lifeguard wandered over to the main office of camp when she was free, as afternoon shifted into the evening.

“Hey Foudy!” she called to the camp director.

“I’m back here,” she responded. Tobin went around the main counter to the back room where the printer and other such office machines were located. The printer buzzed as it spit out several pages. Tobin didn’t know what they were for.

“What’s up?” Foudy said cheerfully.

“I think I might have to skip on dinner tonight. Just wanted to see if it was okay with you.”

“The kids will miss you, but it’s no problem. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just need to run into town. If anyone needs anything, just let me know and I can pick it up.”

“Okay. I’ll ask if I see anyone. When are you leaving?”

“Probably around 4:30”

“Ok. It’s 4 now, so just stop back right before you leave.”

It wouldn’t be a problem for Tobin. Her truck was parked right in front of the office, just like all the other cars. She milled around in the staff hangout cabin, Crikside, so a while. There were a few things that needed tidying up, and being a person who always had to be actively doing something, found herself straightening out the blankets and putting away the dishes where snacks had been had. 4:30 PM came quickly though. The only request that had come in since she last spoke to Foudy was from AD, who wanted some more stamps. Stopping off at the post office for them would be no problem. 

Before she knew it, Tobin was in her truck cruising down the dirt road that led back to town. She was a woman on a mission. She made first stopped at the post office, as they closed at five. She just made it in time. Luckily the older woman working was forgiving of her running in, out of breath, at 4:58PM. And luckily for Alice, said postal office worker, Tobin only wanted stamps. Easy enough, for the both of them. Afterward, Tobin headed over to the store that had sparked the original mission out of camp. And knowing she would miss dinner back at camp, Tobin also stopped at River View Deli, to grab a sub. To date, she swore they were best Deli outside of the New Jersey / New York City metropolitan area. 

She didn’t bother to wrap the gift in anything. Sitting in her truck, it looked pretty ordinary in the paper bag the store had provided. Tobin had elected to leave it in her truck for safekeeping until the time was right. She had secretly confirmed the size when Christen would not suspect, so she was good to go. All now was to wait until it was the right time.

Tobin got back to Rosebud unit just in time to join the procession to that week’s final campfire. It was hard to believe yet another week was almost done, but here they were. It was especially bittersweet for Christen’s group, as tonight capped their two week stay. There were definitely some tears shed, and lots of hugs. As Tobin watched the kids react tonight, she imagined how it would be when they actually left tomorrow afternoon. Twilight was well underway, and the brightest stars started to reveal themselves. Though Tobin enjoyed camp songs, it was never her forte or greatest pleasure, so she snuck off into the edge of the forest to grab some firewood. Really, the supplies they had were fine, but why not go all out for tonight? It had sure felt like a special week, so why not celebrate like it?

Tobin managed to sneak her pile of wood just to the side of the fire at the front of the logs, overlooking the lake. She quietly began adding pieces a couple at time. After a few minutes, the fire was roaring a few feet into the sky. It was awesome. 

Tobin sat on the ground, back leaned against one of the fallen logs, arms behind her head. She had a light hoodie on, and every so often a hand would subconsciously fall and start wrapping one of the drawstrings around its fingers. A few of the younger kids got distracted from the singing, and laid horizontal across their logs, pointing up at the moon and stars. This was a sign that it was probably good to call it a night soon. 

After the kids filtered out from the campfire area, just a few of the adults were left. Tobin and Alyssa ended up being the last two, watching the fire burn out. Since Tobin threw all that wood on the flames, it would take a while to fully burn out. It would have probably at least smoldered until the next day through mid-morning, but they would make sure everything was cold with water before they left. Neither was quite ready for that quite yet though.

“This s just too nice,” said Alyssa, “It’s moments like this it feels like vacation.”

“Yeah, we really are lucky to be here. At least I feel that way.”

There wasn’t a whole lot of conversation between the two, but that’s just how their friendship had always been. They could just sit in silence around each other, not doing much of anything, and that was a perfectly good time for them. Eventually their tired eyes compelled them to put out the fire, and head to bed themselves. 

Christen let her campers sleep in an extra hour the next morning. They were capable of packing their stuff up pretty fast, so she was not worried about a time crunch for getting that done before everyone’s parents started showing up. After a light breakfast, the gang was working towards making everything neat and tidy at warp speed. Christen figured they must wanted to make the most of their time together, and wanted to spend as little of it packing as possible. While her group were very capable of independently working, some of the younger kids in the unit were very not. Abby was clearly struggling trying to get her group to focus, and was seen breaking up a pillow fight then running to another tent to deal with a mass pile of clothes that needed to be sorted out into the different kids’ bags. One kid was just watching ants in the dirt too. 

“I better go help her,” Becky mumbled, as she was trying roll up and stuff one of her own campers’ sleeping bag into its carrier.

“No,” Christen said, “I think you got enough on your plate. I can take this one.”

“Thanks,” said Becky, “Literal life saver.”

Christen tackled the kids who were formerly pillow fighting and had now decided it was the best time to write each other letters. You know, best get ahead of it on the whole keeping in touch with your camp friends after summer thing. She started persuading them that all they needed was each others’ addresses, and that if they never left camp because they didn’t pack, there would be no point in writing letters. 

Tobin and Lindsey sat on the floor of their tent playing cards. It’s not that they were oblivious to the chaos elsewhere around them in the unit, but that they were simply used to it. It seemed to be the natural state of camp in their opinion. 

One of Lindsey’s campers ran up to the tent with its canvas flaps tied way open. 

“I can’t get my suitcase closed!”

“Did you try sitting on it?” asked Lindsey.

“No,”

“Try that and come back and get me if it doesn’t work.”

After the kid ran off, Tobin noted, “You’re good at this.” She pointed with her thumb across the unit, comparing to where Abby was putting arts and crafts projects into one of her camper’s pillowcase. 

“Look at Christen’s kids too. They’re older and can handle it. Practically done, even sweeping out the tents too! My campers aren’t as old as hers, but the age group below that, so they are still pretty capable. Besides, I think packing is like a final teamwork challenge, you know? Show off what you learned at camp.”

Tobin laughed. “I guess that is one way of looking at it!”

Christen had finally gotten the one tent to achieve some progress in their packing, when she was surprised by her own campers.   
“Christen! We finished packing. We’re all ready to go. Not that we want to, but you know...”

Christen gave them a smile and her attention. “That’s awesome guys. It makes me happy to hear that you all are prepared.”

“Yeah we were hoping to have some time to just hang out before we have to leave. Could you bring us to the beach?”

Christen didn’t want to tell them no, but as she thought it over, the question answered itself as the sound of a bunch of dropped beads on the floor echoed through the tent. Christen cringed. 

“Um... I don’t think I’ll be able to do that.” She gestured towards the inside of the tent with her head. “There’s still a lot of work to be done here at the unit. You guys did great though.”

One of the older campers leaned their head around Christen and peaked inside. The expression on their face said it all. “Hmm, yeah... I can see that.”

“You know what though?” Christen had an idea. Tobin didn’t have a designated group. Maybe she could take the kids over to the beach to relax away from the unit chaos. “You guys could ask Tobin though. She might be able to take you all somewhere a little quieter.”

It seemed like a good idea, definitely worth trying at least to the group of campers. The sprung up on Lindsey’s and Tobin’s tent. As they approached, Lindsey remarked, “Looks like you aren’t getting out of this either Tobes.”

“Hey what’s up dudes?” Tobin asked. 

“Christen said you have to take us to the beach.”

“Oh she did now?”

“Yup.”

Lindsey laughed, “She can’t just TAKE my card playing partner away.”

“You can come too if you want,” remarked one of the kids.

“Nah, I gotta make sure my group is doing okay packing.”

There was a slight pause. One of the campers said, “Well, we are ready whenever Tobin.”

“Okay, Okay, just let me get my shoes on.” Tobin was pretending to be annoyed, but she wasn’t really all that much. She could take her shoes off again at the beach, and there was sand there for her toes as a bonus.

It was a good way to spend the rest of the morning. The water reflected the blue skies and white clouds. Looking out across the widest part of the lake, it was honestly pretty gorgeous. You got used to it, seeing it every day, so sometimes you had to remind yourself how special it was. Tobin found her notebook in her bag. The pencil she found had a broken tip though, so she had to whittle a quick point on it with her pocket knife. Then she started a primitive sketch of the scene. At first it was just a landscape, including the lake, distant shore, and sky in the background and then the closest point, swim dock, and a bit of the sand beach in the foreground. Then she added some rough outlines of people, the group of campers goofing around at the edge of the lake. One was skipping stones, and another making a sand castle, and some others just watching and waiting their turn, or maybe just taking a moment of pause to try to burn the image of the lake through their retinas into the folds of their brain before they left. 

Coldwood emptied out its campers. There were a lot of heartfelt goodbyes. Christen didn’t think she ever received so many minutes of being hugged than in that afternoon. Of course, there were always a few who stayed over the weekend because they were attending two consecutive sessions, but Tobin and Christen didn’t’ have to worry about that as they had already put in their work in that matter. 

“You must be relieved,” said Tobin.

“Yeah that, but also I’m going to miss them. It was a lot of work, but they were all so enthusiastic about everything we did. Sometimes when you have the younger kids, you half feel like their babysitter. I didn’t find myself in that role at all this week.”

“Yeah you guys did so much! Honestly everyone is really impressed. Especially me. I’m so proud of you!”

Christen just smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear as she made eye contact with Tobin.

Tobin continued, “You guys building that bridge and trail? Totally awesome. I really liked watching you swing that hammer too.”

“You saw that?”

“Only a little bit, but man you can swing that thing.”

Christen held up her right arm, left hand on her bicep and gave it her best flex. “I definitely have put on a little muscle this summer.”

“You could get like, super swole, and carry me around.”

“What? That seems like a lot of work. You could do it instead, you know.”

Tobin took that as a challenge. They were just chatting in the field by the main office, so Tobin scooped Christen up bridal style and starting jogging across the grass. Christen burst out into giggles at how easily Tobin could be compelled. 

Through her breaths, Tobin managed to say strained “I think I can make it all the way across the field.”

True to her word, Tobin did make it all the way across the 200 yard or so grassy field. The dismount was not graceful and the both just kind of fell on the edge of the clearing. Tobin was both trying to catch her breath and laugh, while Christen was just laughing.

“You dropped me!” she said.

“Did not! I just put you down roughly.”

Allie had seen the whole debacle from afar and shouted, “Tobin just thinks she’s strong. It’s actually just a huge façade she puts up.”

After a few minutes Tobin, spotted her truck and remembered she had a gift for Christen in there. “Hang tight,” she said, “I have something for you in my truck.” She ran over to the truck and grabbed a paper bag out of the passenger side.

She came strolling back and handed Christen the bag. Christen found inside the paper bag was a cardboard box, and flipping the lid on box, she found a new set of hiking boots. They were obviously meant to replace the ones that had gotten wrecked earlier in the week. Tobin waited for Christen to say something. Instead the woman just looked a bit confused.

“You like them?” Tobin asked.

“Yeah... I mean... they are great.”

Tobin knew something was off. Honestly she was kind of expecting Christen to throw her hands around her and give her a kiss as a thanks. That definitely wasn’t required, but shouldn’t she at least be a little happy?

“Thank you Tobin. I honestly don’t know what to say.”

Tobin just ran her hand through the hair at her temple. Something had killed the energy of the moment. Christen was more stylish than Tobin, but surely that didn’t apply to hiking boots, did it?

“Are you sure you like them? You seem kind of... eh... about them. We can bring them back to the store and get another pair if they are not to your liking.”

“No. It’s not that. They are perfect. It’s just...” Christen trailed off, “I don’t know.”

Tobin gave Christen the suspicious raised eyebrow look.

“Okay... it’s just I did a lot of research before I came out to Coldwood. I didn’t have hiking boots, or really a lot of the stuff I knew I would need, so I know... these are the best brand of hiking boots money can buy. And I know they are not cheap.”

Tobin started to get why Christen was acting to awkward and it the feeling was seeping into her as well. “Um... I don’t know... I just figured your other ones really took a beating. You definitely need the best. You deserve the best. I didn’t even think about an alternative.”

“That’s sweet, it really is. I just kind of feel awkward about it. I don’t want you to feel like you have to buy me expensive things, you know just because of...” Christen hesitated in effort to find the right words, “my background.” 

This was not necessarily the conversation Tobin wanted to be having at the current moment out on the grass. She just shifted her jaw, being stubborn about it.

Christen continued, “I know you are pretty much no contact with your parents, and you’ve been independent for a couple years now. I also know you work here in the summers, and that from personal experience it’s not exactly a high payer.”

Tobin interjected, “I do get extra as Waterfront Director though.”

Christen didn’t respond to the statement, because although it was true, it was irrelevant to the point she was trying to make. “And I know we haven’t talked about it explicitly, or maybe you suspected it, and I don’t know how much Kelley told you, but... growing up, my family, we never had to worry about money.”

“You are a rich kid.”

“That’s one way of saying it.”

“You know, just because I’m not rich doesn’t mean I can’t buy you nice things every once in a while. You gotta trust me I know what I’m doing and not doing anything stupid.” 

Christen pondered this for a moment. “I do trust you. It’s just I couldn’t help feeling a little awkward about it. Maybe it’s a bit of my sense of independence too.”

“I’m sorry this happened. Are you... gonna keep them or do you want me to bring them back?”

“No. I’ll keep them. They are very nice.” Christen flashed a little smile. “Just next time, please ask me. I know that might not be expected in every relationship, but this is me asking you. I mean, I might have ordered my own boots without you even knowing.”

“Hu, yeah. That could have happened. That makes sense.”

There was a bit of a tense pause between the two. They weren’t making continuous eye contact and Tobin grabbed her water bottle and took a swig. 

“You know,” Tobin began after a moment, “We’ve been spending a whole lot of time with each other. Maybe we take the rest of the day off from each other? Reset tomorrow fresh?”

Christen thought it over for a moment, “Yeah, I mean there are a few people here I feel like I owe some quality time with. I’m sure there are a few missing you too.”

“Haha, yeah.”

“I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow? Or I’m also doing yoga in the morning with Sam if you want to do that before?”

Tobin gave a small smile, “Yup, at breakfast or yoga. Either way, it will be a good way to start the day.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Christen go on a weekend adventure.

The morning was brisk, but the sun beamed down on Grace Lake intending to warm things up quickly. Strands of fog lifted from the surface of the warm water into the colder air. The Rosebud unit had a nice flat grassy area just back from the rocky point that jutted out into the lake across from the beach. It made for a perfect spot for Christen to do her yoga. Looking out over the lake, it had a way of putting your mind in a good place and helped you become centered mentally. Christen was out there before she had told the others she would be starting. She wanted the extra minutes to do some private meditation.

Sam showed up a few minutes early. Christen was not surprised that Sam was true to her word and came despite the early hour on a Saturday. She had even brought a guest with her, which was a nice surprise. 

“I hope you don’t mind, I convinced Sonnet to come too.”

“Certainly not. The more the merrier!”

Sonnet rubbed her eyes, clearly not quite awake yet, but she and Sam rolled out their yoga mats. Sam rolled her head around with her neck, making big horizontal circles. Sonnet reached out touching her toes to get some stretching in. There was a faint tone of an alarm going off somewhere in Rosebud. Minutes later, Tobin too was at the grass near the point. Despite seemingly just having woke up, she was ready to go and all smiles. 

Sam had done yoga before, so she knew most of the poses, but both Sonnet and Tobin were not very familiar with the practice. Christen didn’t mind that they had to stick the basics. For her, going back and refreshing these skills was important. It put you in touch with the roots of yoga, why she felt it was important in the first place. As they progressed from very simple poses to ones that were a bit more challenging, Christen made sure to check the positions of Sam, Sonnet, and Tobin, and readjust them as needed.

“Looks good Sam, you got that one perfect. Tobin, remember to keep your feet together. Sonnet, put her right shoulder back a little.”

They did about 45 minutes of yoga, ending with some balancing exercises like tree and eagle pose. The last 10 or so minutes they just did some stretching.

“All in all, that’s a great way to wake up both your mind and body,” said Sonnet.

“Yeah,” Tobin added, “Thanks for doing this, Chris.”

“It’s nice to have someone to do it with. Whenever I try to do it on my own I always get so lost,” said Sam with a laugh. 

“Well I appreciate you all joining me too,” said Christen.

Sam and Sonnet headed off, probably to grab breakfast.   
“You think we should head off that way too?” Tobin asked, gesturing with her head towards Sam and Rose, who had just left their field of vision.

“I think I would just like to enjoy the morning lake for a little while, maybe grab a coffee to sit with for a while.”

“Hmm, doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I can go make us coffees in the unit house?”

There was a mutual and pervasive feeling between the two that they were going to spend the day together. “Oh Tobin, that would be so nice.”

Tobin disappeared for several minutes, and came back with two mugs with hot beverage in them. She handed a coffee to Christen and sat next to her. Christen noticed Tobin’s drink had little marshmallows floating in it.

“Cocoa?” she asked.

“Felt like a hot chocolate type of morning.” Tobin’s gaze lingered on Christen, her mouth giving way to slight smile. Christen was looking out at the lake, but as she took a sip of her coffee, she gave Tobin a cheeky little smile back.

They mainly just sat there on the rock. There was a little chit chat about their respective weeks, but the moments of silence in between were just as pleasant. Tobin finished her cocoa faster than Christen. When she was done, she set her mug to the side, and Christen, who had been slowly sipping, still had about half of hers left. Tobin sneaked her arm around Christen’s back and put her head to rest on Christen’s shoulder. Christen switched the hand that was holding her mug and put her newly free arm around Tobin. 

A mother duck and her ducklings came swimming by. The babies were tiny little fluff balls, probably the second brood of the summer. They made cute little chirpy sounds continuously as they swam along, following their mother. Some of them got distracted by a small lily pad and were pulling at it together, forgetting that they were supposed to be going somewhere. The mother duck quacked a few times, trying to get the little ducklings to keep up with her. They wiggled quite fast as they paddled back to mom.

“It looks like she was yelling at them,” Tobin said. “Quack, quack” she imitated. 

The ducks weren’t the only birds out and about that morning. Soon after the loons decided to make their presence known, and were calling down the lake. Their sounds could be trill and fast, or sometimes almost mournful and spooky. Lindsey was apparently pretty interested in them though. Their calls must have awoken her, or at least motivated her to get out of bed, and she had quickly ran down to the edge of the lake closest to her tent.

“Here loony loony!” she called. She then attempted a loon call, not noticing she wasn’t the only one up and about in the unit.

Christen and Tobin tried to stifle their giggles. It wasn’t that Lindsey’s loon call was bad, it was just funny that she was out there calling to them with their bizarre sounds. They certainly didn’t expect it. 

Lindsey seemingly gave up on her quest to get the loons down in front of Rosebud, as she left the unit. A few minutes later though, they saw her at the waterfront getting a kayak out. As she paddled by the point, she saw Tobin and Christen and waved.

When Lindsey was close enough, Tobin asked her, “Out looking for the loons?”

“Oh please don’t tell me you heard that?”

“How could we not? Even if we weren’t out here on the point, you weren’t exactly being quiet about it.”

“You seem pretty interested in them?” Christen asked.

“Yeah! I was telling my dad about them a while ago, and every time I talk to him on the phone now, he brings them up. He’s been very insistent I get a picture of them here, and I swear he’s not gonna let me back in the house until I have one!”

Lindsey paddled off down the lake.

“You think she’ll get her photo?” asked Tobin.

“I don’t know. Whenever I’m out on the lake, they seem to stay away from us. It will be hard to get a quality photo.”

The black diving birds were notorious for being cautious. As soon as Lindsey was well down the lake though, a black head popped up near the shore opposite Tobin and Christen.

“Look!” said Tobin as they both burst out laughing.

“Poor Lindsey,” said Christen. 

Tobin grabbed her phone from her pocket and snapped a few photos, but the bird was still too far away to really be a good picture. 

“Oh well, we tried. At least Lindsey doesn’t know she’s on the wrong side of the lake.”

As if on cue, the bird called out its signature song, which Lindsey must have heard wherever she was out on the lake. The bird then dove, likely to appear somewhere else entirely on the lake.  
“That’s the other thing,” Tobin said, “They seem to just leave and pop up wherever. It’s gonna be hard to track it down.”

“Yeah. I guess if it’s calling there are more than one of them though, so maybe the other is over by Lindsey.”

“I hope so,” said Tobin laughing.

Christen titled her coffee cup so Tobin could see it. “I’m all finished,” she stated. Setting her mug to the side, she wrapped Tobin in an embrace and leaned her head on Tobin much the way Tobin had been leaning on her for last 20 minutes. Her chin tilted upward though and Tobin’s lips fell on hers. Tobin was leaning on one hand, but used the other to cusp the side of Christen’s face and some of her curls too. Christen could feel the blood rush in her chest. She thought, God, kissing this woman feels so right. 

“I haven’t brushed my teeth yet this morning,” said Tobin.

“Neither have I. And you just tasted like sugar to me.”

“Coffee for me.”

After a moment, Tobin asks “What do you think about grabbing some breakfast?”

Christen replies, “I’m thinking I take you out to get some brunch. How does that sound to you?”

“More than incredible,” says Tobin.

“That’s a pretty high standard to live up to.”

“If I know you, you’ll nail it though.”

At main camp, out in front of her truck Tobin asks where they are headed. Christen doesn’t want to ruin the surprise though just yet, so that is how she ends up driving. It is surprising to Kelley, who watches them leave. Tobin always drives. Apparently she makes an exception for Christen though. Christen is meticulous and goes slow. She carefully puts the truck in reverse, backs up the ideal amount, and then switches to forward and heads up the camp road. She follows the recommended 15 mph speed limit, which almost no one does. The power of the truck is weird. Just the littlest amount of pressure on the gas pedal causes the truck to surge and the sound of the engine increases. Up high in the cab, she can see everything so well. It is so much different than the little car she is used to back in California. She gets used to the truck by the time they are halfway out the dirt road the camp sits on. Her ease to it delights Tobin. There aren’t too many options for turns, so she gets to town pretty safely. Tobin kind of enjoys being driven around. It’s not something she expected, but she likes watching Christen’s hands maneuver the steering wheel and her focus on the road. The occasional glance, with a smile to add, make her warm. Even as one track minded as Christen can sometimes be, she can’t seem to resist peaking at Tobin in between the bends of the road.

Christen had found a little tap room that also did brunch on the weekends, just outside of town. While most of their taps have craft beer, and it’s a little early for that, they also have 3 types of kombucha. It fits the brunch vibe very well. It’s a nice place with outside dining. Tobin thinks about how she would normally never come here, even if she thought it was quality. She remembers the hiking boots thing and realizes this is Christen’s hiking boots. A treat for her girlfriend. Something she wouldn’t normally do for herself, but would absolutely enjoy. And Tobin enjoys it, yes she does. The food is great, the fresh squeezed orange juice is great, and because it’s their thing, she tries some kombucha too. It is also great. Every time she speaks of how great it is or how much she loves it, Christen’s smile grows wider. She’s clearly enjoying the vibe of the place, but knowing Tobin is liking it too, makes it worth it all in her mind. Tobin kind of thinks she could get used to this, Christen bringing her to fancy places to just have fun. This place isn’t too fancy, but it is more upscale than average restaurant, and definitely well above par for the rural area they are in. They look around and see the other hikers and campers, and it is kind of bizarre. The table next to them ordered caviar, but they have hiking boots and raggedy T-shirts on. Dirt smears down their calves. They probably went for an early hike before, but this was still a very realistic option for them. Most the tables match them. Heck, even Christen and Tobin match them with their very causal getups. Only in these mountain towns can you get that.

“So I know I wanted to do this,” says Christen, “but you kind of hinted you had some ideas for today too? What were you thinking?”

“It’s a little bit out of the way...” says Tobin, “But I think it would be well worth it.”

“What is it?”

“There’s this gorgeous waterfall I’ve been wanting to get to. It’s a bit of a drive, and then we have to hike. Would probably take most the rest of the day, but I’d love to do it.”

“Let’s do it then,” says Christen without any hesitation. 

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. I just want to spend the day with you.”

“Alright then. We can do this.”

Christen pays the bill and then they go back to Tobin’s truck. This time, Tobin jumps back into the driver seat. She’s the one who knows where they are going. They have the windows down and the radio up. Christen smiles at her, her teeth flashing white. Tobin almost wants to stop on the side of the road spend a long time kissing her but she has a very strong feeling where they are going will be well worth it in the end, so she keeps driving, and does her best to only glance over at her girlfriend occasionally.

The radio plays:

Momma once told me  
You're already home where you feel loved  
I am lost in my mind  
I get lost in my mind

Oh my brother  
Your wisdom is older than me  
Oh my brother  
Don't you worry 'bout me

Don't you worry  
Don't you worry, don't worry about me

How's that bricklayin' comin'?  
How's your engine runnin'?  
Is that bridge gettin' built?  
Are your hands gettin' filled?  
Won't you tell me, my brother?

'Cause there are stars  
Up above

We can start  
Moving forward

They drive for a while, but it’s beautiful. The go through an awesome valley with cliffs shooting up either side of them. Christen spots a few climbers on them too. They also get some great views of some mountain ranges. It is spectacular. As they pass through a small town catching a few moments of cell coverage, Christen looks up the weather. Though it was nice, if a little cloudy in the morning, they are due for a quick line of afternoon rain showers. Nothing too intense though. After about an hour and forty minutes of driving, they arrive where the trailhead is. It’s about a three mile hike into the waterfalls, but it’s mostly flat, so it doesn’t take very long. As they pulled into the parking lot, clouds filled the sky. They weren’t gray, just replaced all the blue with white. Sprinkles start to fall down on them. For a few moments here and there, it even is heavy enough to call it rain. Tobin pulls out some rain ponchos and they continue on their way. They see a couple groups of people heading out though.

They get to the waterfall, and wow, is it worth it. It’s about 30 meters high, and tapers out to a 6 meter width at the bottom. No one else is there, as the little bit of rain has seemed to scare them all off. The trail officially only goes to a lookout of the falls on the edge of the gorge, but there is clearly a shepherd’s path that goes down to the bottom of the falls where the stream and pools of water are. It starts of as reasonable to descend, but about halfway down, becomes almost impossibly steep. Tobin goes first and the sand and gravel causes her to slide a bit. Without the trees and roots up the upper half of the makeshift trail, it is quite difficult. She manages to get to the bottom safely though. Christen throws her backpack down to Tobin so she has better balance, and also makes it down the very steep angle safely. 

They laugh, half in disbelief at what they just climbed down. It looks like a cliff, and practically is. They are down there though, so they decide to make the most of it. They take lots of photos, both as individuals with the other acting as photographer, and also a lot together. 

“Hey let’s explore downstream a little,” Tobin suggests. Though none of the drops are as dramatic as the first, the stream continues to stumble down in elevation as it flows. The two make their way past a couple small drops, and finally past one that is about 10 meters in height. More importantly, there is a large pool in front of the drop too. 

“This is the perfect spot to swim!” says Tobin excitedly. She strips down to her underwear, and wades in. It’s difficult to manage the depth she is in though, because the rocks below the surface are a bit erratic and much unlike the gradual drop off found at a beach. She goes in up to her thighs, before pausing. The rain is still drizzling, and she thinks about how nice it would feel to have fully dry clothes to hike out with. She didn’t anticipate the slightly lousy weather or the desire to be able to say she swam in this particular mountain stream. After all, the trip was half impromptu, even if Tobin had been thinking about it as a possibility for this weekend. 

Tobin decides to retreat fully from the cold mountain stream, only temporarily though. She strips down to match the outfit she wore on the day she was born, no clothing at all.

“Tobin!” Christen laments, “Someone could see!”

“We are way downstream, and also everybody left. Plus I’m going in so I’ll be under the water anyway.”

Christen is a bit shocked at her girlfriend’s actions, but she has to internally admit two things. One that no one is truly around, though she can’t guarantee it will stay that way, and two, she very much enjoyed being an observer to Tobin ridding herself of clothing and wading back into the mountain pool.

The water is cold, as most mountain streams are, with their water supplies partially provided by underground springs. The chill doesn’t really hit until she’s up to her belly button though. That’s when it becomes hard for Tobin to go in any further. Christen notices the funny faces her girlfriend is making, and the way she’s sucking in her stomach as far as she can as she attempts to go deeper. Tobin knows she just has to get it over with, so she just jumps off the underwater rock she’s standing on, into a deeper section of the pool, fully submerging herself. She pops up a moment later, the shock of the cold freshness apparent on her face. Her long wet hair clings to her neck. The slight breeze through the gorge tingles worse than the water, so Tobin puts herself back into the pool, all but her head, and her body adjusts to its new environment temperature. 

“Come in!” Tobin calls to her girlfriend.

“You had such trouble getting in! I know it’s cold!”

“It’s not that bad! Please, you came all the way down that steep trail, you have to come in now!

“I want to, but I know I’ll regret it after.”

“No you won’t. Have you ever swam in a mountain stream? You have to cross it off your bucket list.”

They go back and forth a bit more, but Tobin convinces Christen to ditch her socks and shoes and put her feet in up to her calves. Tobin has to use all her charm, but she also eventually manages to convince Christen to ditch her clothes too. Christen is unsurprisingly, very decisive once her mind is made up. After throwing her T-shirt to the side, she jumps in, submerging herself within seconds. She had put her hair up into a bun and is careful to not get it wet, unlike Tobin who occasionally looks like she’s just come from the black lagoon with her hair sticking to the side of her face. Christen immediately swims over to Tobin, who has her arms waiting for her. Tobin sinks herself under the water and pushes all her hair back so it’s out of the way first though. She is standing out on a rock in the middle of the pool that enables her to be on her feet rather than treading water. Tobin has the instinct to pull Christen towards her as their hands meet. The sensation of cold water is interrupted by heat where Christen feels Tobin’s hands take her at the hips. Their torso are ever so close, stomachs touching. Having been acclimated, the water is now refreshing rather than cold, but the warmth of each other’s cores touching is intoxicating. The contact of stomachs becomes contact of entire torso as Christen both leans in and pulls Tobin towards her. Following the rest of their bodies, their lips collide as well. Their movements are slow and deliberate. It’s not late at night, neither are tired in the mind, so every action is intentional with no excuse. The cold water makes them on edge, almost more alive and alert than almost any other time in their life. The adrenaline is rushing.

Christen runs her hand along the back of Tobin’s head, though the mess of wet hair. Tobin does the same, only just along the upper neck of Christen. She feels Christen wriggle against her, and nothing could be better. The cold water at this point, almost seems necessary because of her own body’s reactions. Chest to chest, Christen feels the physical reaction of Tobin’s body. She knows part of it is because of the cold water, but she’s also smart enough to know some of it is because of her. She has no doubt Tobin is recognizing the same reaction in her. It’s almost subconscious, her leg lifting up, traveling up Tobin’s thigh and then wrapping around her waist. Tobin responds, grabbing her below the hips and holding her high. Christen’s other leg follows and she is fully wrapped around her girlfriend. It would have been difficult on dry land, but with the buoyancy of water, it is quite easy for Tobin to hold Christen up as she stand in the chest deep water. Christen is clinging to her, now being held up, her head is a good several inches above Tobin’s. It doesn’t matter though, they are still just as connected. The new, slightly different perspective than the more equal one they usually share, is nice. Not a necessary change of scenery, but once it happened, a certainly welcome one. Tobin kneads into Christen’s back muscles. She’s a lot stronger than many might expect. How can one woman be so cute and terrifyingly badass at the same time? Christen finds Tobin to be soft and warm at the current moment. 

The afternoon cloudiness and showers begin to dissipate. Spots of blue begin to appear back in the sky where white clouds once blanketed. It’s not a surprise, really exactly what the weathermen predicted, but is somehow still feels magical. Tobin wouldn’t trade away the moment for a million dollars, that’s how special it felt being there in the mountain stream with pool with Christen. In a rare moment in between where their lips are locked together, Christen suggests they take some more phots because the sun was starting to shine through, and was only seemingly getting brighter with every minute, tearing successfully at the overcast clouds. 

“Okay, I guess I can go throw my clothes back on,” Tobin says reluctantly. She was having a good time, but had to admit they had been at each other a while now, and wanted to fulfill Christen’s other wishes. 

“Or you could not,” said Christen.

Tobin was a bit confused at first. “Huh?” she said. After a moment, she got it though. “Oh... I see. I like that.”

The first photos were quite tame. Tobin was under the water from toe to neck, just a bit a shoulder showing. You could even show it a grandma so little skin was showing. As they took more photos though, the photos progressed in how much was revealed. By the time they got the last one, Tobin was fully out of the water, standing on a rock, attempting to vaguely cover herself with just her hands. Obviously with just those limited tools they didn’t do a terrific job of that. By Christen’s measure though, it was a terrific job. The full falls in the background shown behind her made the photo magical. Switching roles, it was then Tobin’s turn to shoot and Christen’s to be the photographic prey. It being her idea, she was a bit more enthusiastic about it. Perhaps it was her being second rather than first too though. Like Tobin’s, the first burst of photos was very tame. You really couldn’t have told she was in her birthday suit unless you were told. Christen was a little bit more free spirited than Tobin at the end though, not caring to pretend to hide anything. They were photos for her girlfriend after all. Tobin felt herself biting her lip ad she looked from the screen towards the actual Christen posing and back again. It seemed almost unreal. It also seemed more and more that moments with Christen felt like that. The way the sun struck through the clouds, casting just ray or two, the camera lenses capturing it, it was godly.

Tobin ended up sitting on rock, feet still in the water. Christen joined her, sitting across her legs. They scrolled through the photos, deleting ones they didn’t like, pointing out the ones the liked a lot. They ended up slipping back in the water, taking a few together two. At first they were just selfies, Tobin holding out her arm to capture it. Christen, insisted they did a few timer photos too. It allowed them to sink a little further into the water, and into the moment. There was one that Tobin almost cried at when she saw it. The two of them were in the water up to their clavicle bones, staring ever so deeply into each other’ eyes. Christen had just said something about them being like Greek water nymphs. It wasn’t meant to be completely funny, but the exact phrasing, the way she said it, was. Both of them were about to laugh when the timer had gone off and captured the scene, the moment perfectly. She half wanted to make it her phone background. If it wasn’t for how easily a kid at camp might see the two of them together like that, she definitely would have. 

They probably would have taken a hundred more photos, but they could hear the distant voices of people coming along the trail. The incoming visitors had timed it correctly with the weather, and now that it was past the afternoon rainstorms there was no reason to put off an outdoor adventures one might have. Christen and Tobin were probably fine being a good distance down from the main waterfall people hiked in to see, but neither of them were going to risk it. Plus, they had been naked and in the cold stream water for some time. It was due that they get out, dry off, and re-cloth themselves. 

They could hear the other group of people show up, and hike down to the bottom of the main falls, but that group never even would know the two women were just downstream. Their clothes were warm from laying on the rocks, and putting them back on felt nice and relaxing. Tobin found a nice spot she could lounge in now that the sun was back out. Christen was quite the explorer and inspected all the small little pools of water in their little area. She saw minnows, crawfish, and weird looking water bugs. It was amazing all the life in the tiny ecosystems between roaring cascades of water. They heard the above group’s voices start to get fainter. It seemed they had decided to head out. Tobin and Christen decided they should follow suite, and head back out to the truck soon too. They climbed back up to the main falls, and up the steep herd path to the main trail. Just as the popped back up onto the ridge and main trail, they ran into a family who had just arrived. 

The dad’s eyes bugged out as he looked at them, at the trail they just climbed up, and back to them. “You just came up that?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty steep, but doable for us,” Tobin said. 

“Wow,” the dad said. 

Christen looked at the two kids. “I wouldn’t take them down it though,” she added. 

“No way!” said the mom. The kids looked kind of disappointed.

Just as the hike in went quick, so did the hike out. It might have felt a little shorter because the lack of anticipation for a cool destination, but they definitely went a bit slower, just taking a bit more of their time than on the way in. The skies had really cleared up after the brief showers and had never been bluer. The sun shone through the canopy of the forest, illuminating the neon green leaves with its golden rays. 

When they got back to the truck, they threw their packs in the back, and then just sat in the cab for a minute. Tobin leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “This is nice,” she said. 

Christen took a deep breath of contentment, “I don’t want this day to end,” she said. 

Tobin leaned forward over her steering wheel. She was looking out through her dash, up at the clear sky. “I don’t think it does have to end, at least not yet. I have an idea.”


End file.
